In Style Stamps/OWH Birthday Challenge

Here is a HAPPY BIRTHDAY card I submit for the challenge over at In Style Stamps. No sentiment needed -who could have a sad birthday with all these colors! This cute clown digi came from my freebie stash but I can't remember who drew her, if anyone knows please advise so I can give proper credit. Thanks for looking! have a wonderful weekend!
~Cheryl~

Sparkle Challenge and Copic technique for cheapos!

   Hey ya'll! I am entering this first card in the challenge over at Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps, the request was for any card that makes you think of fall. I had just whipped this card up the other day using this AKV Bugaboo Stamps freebie and some miscellaneous papers that were in my scrap folder. To color the image I used a combo of copic, sharpie, and cheapo kid markers. I was able to get a little shading by first coloring with the fine point sharpies then immediately using the lighter copic to blend toward the center, it may not be as good as using all copics but so far I only own six of them in the very lightest shades so I do what I can with those.

When I started the hobby of making cards for Operation Write Home; though I absolutely love it, I had  no idea what it would truly cost to build up a supply trove. For months I spent no less than fifty bucks a week at craft stores including my cuttlebug, then folders, spellbinders dies etc...thank god I hid the receipts from hubby...shhh. I must admit I put copics last because they really are expensive, they are also worth it for the exceptional blend-ability. One marker for four bucks is a lot of moolah in my neck o' the woods- and that is the SALE price! lol. As you can tell I used my "skin" marker to shade around the image, something I tried the other day and I liked it -kinda' looks a little antiqued. My next batch of copics will include at least one other color to represent another ethnicity because right now I'm limited to white skin.

I tried to buy my copics according to which I would need for the largest areas of my images. For example I started with the lighter browns for all of the bear(s) and even one very light green for turtles and frogs. I heard that by buying the lighter shades first you can get away with having less colors because you can build up color with the lighter ones by going over and over the same spot you want darker -it works! Since I only have a few copics - I "outline" a little darker with my cheapo markers -I kinda' prefer this method. I did splurge on a $16 collection of fine point sharpies which I really like for a variety of card-making purposes. They write very smoothly -love me some smooth writing pens- and of course they do include a darker and lighter version of each color which gives them some versatility, copics WILL blend with them if you do it in a hurry. For example below, check out the wings on this little bugaboo angel. I first used my pink sharpie to outline the inside edges (zoom close) where it would be naturally darker then quickly used my pink copic to blend toward the middle. A cheaper way to achieve some depth.Nothing could be done for the moon, however because I had no lighter color of yellow...note to self...need light yellow copic too!

While you're zoomed in notice there is a little sparkle on the middle band there. That there is OWH APPROVED glitter paper. This paper has glitter literally baked into the paper so there is absolutely no flaking whatsoever. I think I now have this paper in EVERY color because sometimes you just NEED glitter and even though I really haven't been using this paper as much as I thought I would, buying it and owning it and knowing you do have a way to add glitter is really fun, almost like breaking the rules without getting caught. lol.

...and just one more thing, it doesn't really show up in this pic all that great but I've added some real cheap bling there in the corners. Glitter paper is great for use with your punches to add a little flower, then pop a cheap as dirt sequin, then a little gem on top of that. It doesn't really translate here but this card is really bedazzled in person and who doesn't love that?

OWH Sketch 35 Challenge

  Hi there, this time I wanted to make a birthday card for a boy since my last two were obviously for girls. It wasn't easy because I didn't have much colorful paper on hand but I found this in my scrap folder. Birthday cards are not my favorite cards to make either. I like to just make general cards and if they are to be used for a birthday I figure the soldier can write inside "Happy Birthday" but since many of the OWH birthday challenges of late are specifically asking for Birthday cards I am stretching myself. So the little alien monster I got from the freebies blog but (I feel really bad about this) I can't remember who submitted it, if you know please advise. I then added three googly eyes. I made the little sentiment sign on my scrapbook factory program.

By the way is anyone else's blogger acting funny. Mine keeps highlighting errors instead of turning them red and it won't let me type text except in link form with an underline unless I go and put a jump break which is got me baffled. I must have inadvertantly changed some settings but have no idea how to get back to normal blogger. It is really drivin' me insane! LOL

     This last card here is just a random I scrapped up from this image by Elizabeth Dulemba, theres a link on my blog that will take you to all of her wonderful digital freebies! Happy Scrap 'n!

TGIF Card Extravaganza!

This is my submission for Shelly's Images Challenge Blog  over at OWH which was to make a birthday card. The image used here is a Dustin Pike D.P. freebies and I added the googly eyes!

This Snowman card is for the OWH challenge over at Paper Romance, which was to make either a birthday or Christmas card.If you zoom in a little you'll notice on the snowflakes I dabbed a little blob of sparkly stickles. The paper used on both of the Christmas cards was a donation from Karen Gory Creating With Kajikit (she sent me a ton of paper a while back) she's a real sweet lady and the snowman was a stamp I received in Scrappy's blog candy I won a while back.

Next up is my submission for both the ABC Christmas Challenge Blog which was to use a Santa and the Little Red Wagon Blog Challenge  which was to use a star or stars. This image is by Dustin PikeD.P. freebies. Did you get the dragon "pun"? My daughter didn't! lol

Here's my entry for the OWH Some Odd Girl Challenge Blog which was to make a birthday card; This sweet little digi is a freebie over there so make sure you get it! This card is going to make some soldiers daughter smile when she receives it because it is so colorful. I was really on a roll today! Thanks So Much for stopping by to say Hi! I hope ya'll have a wonderful weekend!

Cooking it up with Katie Challenge

     Yesterdays challenge over at cooking it up with Katie was to make a fancy fold card with an autumn theme. Here is my submission for that Challenge. The only thing I left out (doh) was the embossing which I must have skipped over that deet in my reading yesterday but hey... two out of three ain't bad right?

....and here is the inside of my easel fold card. Since this card will be received by a Soldier I needed to provide a little room for a quick note home. This is only the second easel fold card I've ever done and I really liked the fact that it can be displayed but the message inside still remains private from view.

Deets;
All of my papers are random, some from books, others bought by the sheet (I can't seem to resist buying paper even though I have a LOT of books already) I'm not dedicated to any brand when it comes to scrapp'n , I like them ALL! Thanks for visiting my blog today, if you leave me a comment ill visit yours! Happy Scrapp'n!
~Cheryl~

Thanksgiving Collection

Hey there, here are my first four Thanksgiving cards...I made these from two (one dollar) stamps I picked up at Joanns the other day. On the first two I used a vellum to stamp the images onto. Also I used my quick cutz squares and circle frames on these!

Thanks for checking out my designs & Happy Scrap 'n!

OWH Sketch #34 Challenge plus Fab n Funky Challenge #39 & DT call

Pink ATG on the Cheap plus Random Acts of Cardness

     Hey ya'll. Those of you who read my post on no-fail adhesives may appreciate this. Today I received my pink ATG ~WOOT WOOT! I did have to wait about seven weeks for it because it was a pre-order and there had been a defect in a huge batch of them that were to be shipped. Scotch had to pull and re-manufacture all of those so it put all of the subsequent shipments way behind.

     I LOVE this thing and would wait an eternity to have it in my hands....now I'm sounding like a bad romance novel, but seriously love is NOT too strong of a word here. I have scrapped up six (see below) cards with this thing and now I see what all the fuss over at Operation Write Home is about. First off it did not feel awkward to me which was a concern of it being so big, I picked it up and started to use it right away and it is very user friendly, if you're a scrapper it is pretty intuitive to use, just pull the trigger, drag on your card-stock, and release the trigger in a full motion -very fast and accurate for even narrow strips and ribbon. I even used it on the back of some tiny (less than 1/2 inch surface) paper flowers and yes it is that accurate in tape placement, so say goodbye to those sticky fingers. The loading of the tape reminds me of the way you thread a sewing machine...a little bit to learn but once you've done it one time you never need the instructions again! This tape sticks like no other. It far surpasses the Ad-Tech permanent variety that I reviewed in its stick-ability and this is the scotch gold that came with my Susan G. Komen ATG (2 rolls included). You will definitely become a shipper favorite card-designer if you use this!

     Here's one more thing to feel good about... I only paid thirty bucks with shipping ($21.50 + $8.50 S&H) for this ATG over at Glenda's Creative Place Glenda is an awesome seller, I do not work for her but; I had to call her because I was so anxious to get my ATG and she kindly explained to me about the pre-order. She makes no money on these...she is doing it solely for the good of cancer research and to offer scrappers this low price, what an awesome lady!! Please go there and buy one of these from her, you WILL have to wait... but you WILL NOT get a better price anywhere and during the wait time you will be able to use up all of the current adhesive you have on hand (no waste = no glue in a landfill) YAY - because once you receive this you will never want to use anything else. Incidentally I also found a cheaper brand tape WHICH I HAVE NOT TRIED, but that you may wish to try AFTER you buy your ATG...here is the link to that JVCC brand tape thats fits the ATG $1.93 per roll.

     Now for my Random Acts of Cardness. I call it that because what follows is a mis-match of differently themed cards that I just scrapped up in a jiffy to test out my ATG. Most of the papers used came from a scrap box and honestly were not my favorites but hey...every paper deserves a "chance" to shine right? The Halloween card is the only one that follows this weeks Sketch 32 challenge @Operation Write Home. Have you ever noticed how your glue doesn't seem to stick as well to your embossed papers? The ATG tape solves this problem. I still used Beacons 3 in 1 for the buttons in case you were wondering.

     

 

 

 

    Please let me know if this post was helpful to you or if it took a long while to load (I just got a new camera and pics are taking forever to upload so I may need to reduce the resolution.) Thanks for stopping by and Happy Scrap n'!