Oriental scene

Click on image to enlarge.

I hate that the photo of this card doesn't do it justice. I've taken it outside and inside and I just can't capture the true colors. We have some friends moving to China later this month and I wanted to do a card for several of us to sign and give them. So, I'm sure it will be appreciated, as it really is quite lovely, even if I do say so myself.

The little lady is one of a few digital beauties that came from Mami Doodles that I couldn't resist. The background scene is from Doodle Pantry, another site where you can get some awesome digital images.

The background scene was colored with my prismacolor pencils, and the little lady with my new Promarkers. Her dress is paper pieced from paper from K&Company, as is the rest of the dps on the card. The sentiment is from Polka Doodles Back to Nature cd. The pearls from Recollections and the buttons are from Wal-Mart. I cut the window frame out on my Cricut, using the "George" cart. Oh, and the scalloped border is from EK Success that I got on clearance at Target last week.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Digital Tuesday Challenge - use images from two stores

Fab n' Funky Challenges - spotty, dotty & stripes (There are spots and dots on the border paper, the paper behind the window and border papers are both striped papers)

Cooking It Up With Katie - paper piecing, something fruity and a circle or two

Simon Says Stamp! - based on a song (Travelin' Man by Ricky Nelson)

Cute Card Thursday - anything

Card Patterns - sketch

Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge - anything

Polka Doodles - coloring contest

Sentimental Sundays - anything and a sentiment

Thanks for looking and commenting.

dj1952

Chillin'

This little guy from Lili of The Valley is bushed from all the work he's done. Lol! My DH has been grounded with a bad knee and had to have surgery on it. In the mean time our yard was beginning to look like no one lived here but the pine cones. So a group of our friends got together, came over and picked up pine cones, mowed the weeds and did a little clean-up of dead branches. So I made these thank you cards for them. I know they're a little cutesie for men, but I didn't want to get too serious. I didn't have enough of any one background color, so I did some in each color. Here is the one with the darker background.


This is the one on the lighter background paper.

On both cards I used some Basic Grey paper (the orange) and a neat denim paper by Paper Pizazz. The sentiments are by My Sentiments Exactly, which look better cut out. One card has the "raindrops" (or whatever you call them" and the other, buttons. Now to the "flowers"; the blue things are an attempt to make something that wasn't so girlie, but I'm not entirely thrilled with the way they turned out. But the other ones, I think turned out pretty cool (I'm giving my age away with my adjectives). They started out as poptop can rings. I took some tin snips from my husband and cut them in half and then put drywall tape under them. The large one was to large for a button, so I cut 1" circles out of a soda can, pierced it all over, and then colored it with alcohol inks. The petals on the smaller one were colored with an orange sharpie and topped with a button.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Ellephantastic Challenges - distressing

Basic Grey Challenges - stitching and something BG - orange paper

Creative Inspirations Challenge - anything goes

Dutch Dare Card Challenges - anything goes

Craftalicious Challenges - make your flowers

Scrap Creations - anything goes

Paper Sundaes - stitching

Marks Finest Papers - thank you

The Crafty Pad - ribbon & flowers

Freshly Brewed Designs - thank you

Polka Doodles - coloring contest

Thanks for looking and commenting.

dj1952

Congratulations

Click on image to enlarge. This cute little mouse is by Meljen and was a freebie a while back. I think she is really a great designer. I got to know her work when I did the card for Michelle (see earlier post) and downloaded her cute little donkey. I wanted to get my card in for their challenge, and I got in with only four minutes to spare. Whew! I've got to be a little more careful and not lose track of time.

I think easel cards are one of the easiest cards to do, once you figure out your papers, etc. I did this card for a good friend who has just graduated from a nurse's course. She is the mother of two girls and this was not an easy thing for her, so I'm so proud of her. I wanted to do a card that wasn't a typical "graduation" card. (I may still put some little confetti, etc. in the envelope though.) I like the yellow with the purples. I colored the image with my prismacolor pencils and gamsol. The sentiment is a MS stamp. The ribbons and brads are from M's.

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Meljen's Design Team - easel card

Stamp Something - flowers

Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturdays - digis

Sentimental Sundays - fun (my mouse was dancing - LOL!) and sentiment

There She Goes Clear Stamps - easel card

Digital Tuesday Challenge - bling or glitter (my flowers on the stamped paper have glitter in centers)

Papertake Weekly Challenge - sketch

Your Next Stamp Challenges - easel card

Totally Gorjuss - congratulations

Thanks for looking.

dj1952

Summer day on the lake

Click on image to enlarge.

This is my first attempt at trying to do a "vintage look". I don't know if I totally succeeded or not. You'll have to let me know what you think. I feel that it still needs something, but I'm not sure what. The image is from some software that I've had for years. The lace is fairly new, but I'm not really happy with it, it was entirely too white, so I coffee and then tea died it, but it still didn't come out exactly how I wanted.

This is the first image that I have only used chalks on. I've actually had these chalks for over 25 years; I used them when I did ceramics. The punch is by MS; ribbon, buttons and butterfly are from Michaels dollar bins.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Sketch and Stash Challenge - sketch and my stash is the chalk and new item is the ribbon
Allsorts Challenge - summer
The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - summer
Wee Memories - summer
Tuesday Morning Sketches - summer plus favorite past sketch #43
The Creative Cottage - texture
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge - recipe: 1 ribbon, 2 designer papers, 3 embellishments Digi Doodle Shop's Best - anything

Thanks for looking and for any comments that you leave.

dj1952

Little Nurse

I'm so excited! I finally got my Lili of the Valley stamps that I ordered a couple of months ago. Apparently they got lost in the mail. So I've spent the last 2-3 days coloring images (not all LOTV, just catching up on others, too). This little image is called "Little Nurse". Isn't she cute? I colored her with my prismapencils and Gamsol. Then I actually went to the sewing machine and sewed a little. (Boy my sewing has gone down hill; I used to be pretty good). The ribbon and bow are some of the little ribbons in a stack at Michaels. The border stamp is by Fiskars, and the flower is a silk one found in the floral department. The papers are K&Co, which seems to be my favorite at the moment.

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Your Next Stamp Challenge - flowers
Cooking it up With Katie - recipe
Lili of the Valley Challenge - sketch
Totally Paper Crafts - recipe
Papertake Weekly - cute
Digi Doodle Shops Best - use up scraps

Hope you enjoyed looking. I appreciate any comments that are so kindly left.

TFL,

dj1952

Just a Note - Pink & Purple

Click on any image to enlarge.

Purple (not blue)

These cute bunnys are by Di's Digi Downloads. I think she does the cutest images. The pink card was made for Bella (the eight year old girl who lost all of her limbs due to a near fatal sickness. Several card sites are telling her story, one being 2 Sisters Challenge Blog. The address if you would like to send a card or financial aid to her family is: The Bella Tucker Fund, PO Box 199, Londonderry, NH 03053.

I wanted to send her something cheerful, and I think this card fits the bill. The sentiment, which is how I truly think of her, is from a clear set of sentiments that I have. The flowers are from the wedding section in Michaels, the buttons on both cards are from Michaels bins. The image is inside a window. I didn't want to lose the inside for commenting, however, so I pop-dotted the image just inside the cutout. If you see the inside of the card on the left, that's why I have a scalloped circle and another image. I printed a note to her from my printer, and after taking picture of the backside, I adhered it to the green patterned paper.

Both cards are basically made the same way. Except on the purple card I used pansies from the floral department in Michaels and a MS punch on the border. I will be putting a sentiment on the purple card, also. It will say: "Just a note".

I'm entering the cards in the following challenges:

The Pixie Cottage - sketch and optional aperture (both cards)

The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - aperture (both cards)

Incy Wincy Designs - distressing (inside of the purple card)

Pear Tree Designs - glitter or bling (butterfly on pink card)

Crafty Creations - make your own button (pink card)

Meljens Designs - circles

Hope you enjoy looking at the cards.

Debra (dj1952)

Proud as a Peacock

Click on any image to enlarge.
Tail Feathers

I seem to be trying a lot of "firsts" lately. These are the first mosaic cards I've ever made. I've wanted to do it for some time, but just wasn't too motivated. This week one of the challenges is to do a mosaic, so I figured this was the time.

No coloring this week. The peacock and the tail feathers are from the "Back to Nature" cd by Polka Doodles. I've had it printed for months, but just didn't know what to do with it, even though it was one of the reasons I purchased the cd. As you can see, I did two different cards with the mosaics. As I'm making two of each of my cards, and I messed up on cutting the other peacock, I figured I wouldn't let the feathers go to waste.

The papers are K&Co; and actully only two different sheets. The one with all of the images has it all on one page. Nice. The pearls are from Recollections. I haven't put a sentiment on them yet, because I'm not sure what to use them for.

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Papertake Weekly - sketch

Tuesday Throwdown - mosaic

Totally Papercrafts - pearls & swirls

2Sisters Challenge - anything

Polka Doodles - summer

Dutch Dare Card Challenges - color inspiration

TFL,

dj1952

Donkey Smiles

Click on image to enlarge.

This little guy is a freebie over at Whimsy Stamps - Whimsy Stamps by Meljen's Designs. It's for one of the members of the DT at A Spoonful of Sugar, Michelle, who was in an accident and lost the use of her right eye, as well as having a long road to recovery. The other DT members asked for us to send cards to cheer her up.

This is my first attempt at using distress inks as a coloring medium. I'm not totally satisfied yet, but I know it takes practice to accomplish anything. I used the Cricut Storybook cartridge to cut the circle and scalloped circle. Then I used papers from K&Co and others that I had embossed with my cuttlebug. The flower is a silk flower I bought in the flower department at Michaels.

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

2 Sisters Challenge - anything
Sketch Saturday - sketch
Color Throwdown - color challenge
A Spoonfull of Sugar - send a card to Michelle
Digi Doodle Shop's Best - texture
The Shabby Tea Room - embossing

TFL,

dj1952

Some bunny loves you.

Click on image to enlarge.

This adorable stamp is a digital image from Clear Dollar Stamps. I bought it because it looks like a real rabbit. Then I colored it to look like a bunny that a friend of mine has. She is feeling a little blue because one of her children just moved across the country. So I thought this might make her smile.

I colored it with my prismacolors. The papers are K&Company, I believe. The flowers are made by using my hydrangea punches by MS. On the inside I cut a couple of decorative mats to place the message on. With this card, I'm going to try and make two of each one I do; one for myself and one to sell later this year at a craft show. I've never tried this before, so I hope I will do well.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Moving Along With the Times - sketch
Totally Papercrafts - For the girls
The Crafty Pad - Animal
One Stitch at a Time - Ribbon, lace or bow
Polka Doodles - create a decoration (I did the flowers)
Craftalicious Challenges - Cute
Ellephantastic Challenge - It's up to you (first challenge)

2 Sisters Challenge - anything

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you will leave a message. I truly appreciate it when you do.

dj1952

Fun in the Sun

Click on image to enlarge.

Since summer has truly set in and I found this cute freebie (not sure where) by Snapping Dragon Designs, I thought I'd do a "summer" card. Nothing says summer better to me than a day at the beach. I added the horizon line so I could add the water to the scene; I thought it looked more inviting. The only Cricut cut on the card is the circle behind the image. I used a variety of papers and my prisma pencils to color the image. The ribbon is from Michaels and the border is by EK Success. The card looked a little too plain for me, so I added the faux stitching.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Tuesday Morning Sketches - sketch

Daisy Doodles Creative Challenges - summer

Papertake Weekly - stitching

The Creative Cottage Challenge - summer

The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - water

Allsorts Challenge - create a scene

Fab n' Funky Challenge - sew

Crafty Calendar Challenge - summer

TFL,

dj1952