Feature Friday for TCC

This is one of the newest releases from The Character Cafe for this month. I cut the image out after coloring it with my Prismacolor pencils, and I had an accident so I had to "fix" the post, since I'm trying to get this ready to be posted before I go in the hospital for surgery, the easiest and quickest thing for me to do was cut out a piece of cardstock and make it look like aged wood.

There are some gorgeous images at TCC this month, as usual. I chose this image because I love Cardinals. The fact that they are one of the birds that mate for life, is so endearing to me. And of course, I love the brilliant color of the male. I used a Spellbinder's nestie that I just purchased. (I have only recently started building a collection because I really love using my Cricut for this type of thing, but it's not always easy to clear the table off to get to it.) I'm also using one of the new Cuttlebug Embossing Plus folders. This one is Fanciful Labels, which has five labels on it. I would have preferred that they give a few more directions as to how it goes through the machine, but with a little trial and error I figured it out. The stiped paper is some I purchased months ago, and pretty much forgot about. It was hiding, for one reason, it is 8-1/2x11" paper instead of 12x12". Oh, I guess you can figure out that I used cotton for the snow. I don't have any of the fancy types that I keep seeing, and I didn't have time to go out and get any. I've put some glitter on to make it sparkle some. The snowflakes are glittered, but for some reason it doesn't show up. I guess it's because I don't usually use my flash when I take my pictures.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Mark's Finest Papers - snowflake

Secret Crafter - sparkle and shine

Sweet Stampin Challenge - snowflakes

The Paper Players - red, green, cream

Wee Memories - patterned paper in stash

Twisted Sketches - sketch

Creative Card Crew - thank you

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge - glitter

Digi Doodle Shop's Best - anything

I hope you enjoy the card and that you will leave a comment for me. Also hop on over to TCC and check out all of their great images.

Thanks,

dj

It's Feature Friday again at TCC

It's hard to believe that it's already Friday again. Unfortunately I didn't get to post a card last week because I was in the hospital. Fortunately they helped me get to a point that I didn't have to have emergency surgery. However, I do have to go back in on Monday. I'm going to try to get a few cards done to post while I'm there, but I'm not moving too fast right now so I don't know how that's going to work out.

The Challenge this week calls for natural colors (blk, brown, navy, kraft or anything similar and something embossed. I'm using Stefan & Katherine that I was to use last week. I thought they were so sweet. As soon as I saw them I knew pretty much what I wanted to do. However, even though I like the way the image turned out, I'm not totally happy with the overall card. It just seems like it's missing something. Also the jute that I used in front of the tent looks more like cheddar cheese. LOL! I will definitely try to fix that before I send it out.

When I think of fall or autumn I think of fairs, carnivals, and circuses. I've made this as an anniversary card for some friends. The sentiment on the front says: "Life Can Be A Circus". On the inside it says: "The Two of You Have Made it Work, Happy Anniversary!" This is something that my dh and I came up with.

The tent was cut at 4" from Create a Critter. I used a Sizzix embossing folder on the bottom half of the tent, and then paper pieced the top with some striped paper. No one would probably be able to guess how I did the lights. The cord is part of the steam rising from the noodles on the same cart. The lights are welded to it and are one of the peanuts on the card. LOL! I colored the image and the lights with my Prismacolor pencils. Then I used stickles on the lights. I really do like the way the brown background paper turned out. It is a cardstock that I got a while back at Joann's that had a lot of texture. I used Vintage Photo distress ink to rub on the paper; I think it makes it look like leather.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Totally Gorjuss - sketch

Catch the Bug Blog - anything

CES Challenges - autumn

Sketch, Scrap & Doodle Saturdays - fall

Gingerloft Challenge - buttons

Stamps R Us - buttons & bows

Paper Pretties - embossing

Fairy Tale Challenge Blog - anything

Crafty Cardmakers - dry embossing

Thanks for stopping by. I would love to hear any comments you might want to make.

Hugs

dj1952

TCC New Challenge - (Mine - All monsters aren't bad.)

This little monster is happy, doesn't shed, doesn't chew up shoes or anything, is always there to comfort you and never gets its feelings hurt. He's adorable, right? If you'd like to adopt one of his brothers or sisters all you have to do is head over to The Character Cafe shop. LOL! He's not one of the newest releases, but he is cute all the same.

It's time for a new challenge at The Character Cafe. I couldn't quite find a sketch that would work for me, so I created my own. Here are the ingredients for our challenge at TCC this week:

orange
1 diecut (mine are the 4 scalloped circles)
3 circles (I did 4)
ribbon (I used my organza to make a bow)

See, that's easy isn't it?

I cut the scalloped circles with my cricut, I added colorbox ink to the edge of two of the circles. Then, because I thought the background paper was a little too busy, I added the bit of orange. I still felt that it needed something, so I added the buttons. I think the organza ribbon is gorgeous; I got it at Bunny Zoe's. We'd love to have you join in with us this week, so stop on by.

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

The Crazy Challenge - tons of shapes (4 circles, 4 buttons, box)

A Spoon Full of Sugar - punch or die cuts (4 circles)

Simon Says Challenge - punch or die cuts (4 circles)

Inktegrity Design Team - anything

Digi Doodle Shop's Best - anything

2 Sisters Challenge Blog - anything

Aly's Sunday Challenge - distressing

Thank you for stopping by and I hope that you will leave a message for me.

Hugs,

dj1952

Not your typical anniversary card...

You will probably agree with me that this is not your typical anniversary card. I made this for my darling husband of 38 years. When I first saw this image from Fred She Said I knew what I wanted to do for my husband's card and what I wanted to say on it. We both like the color red, and he's always liked old vehicles. For years he's wanted a specialty tag for his truck like this one, but neither of us want to pay an additional $85 or so each year, so now he's happy. LOL! I colored the truck with my Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol.

I cut the mats, the hearts and the "happy anniversary" on the inside of the card with my Cricut. I used one of my favorite MS punch-around-the-corner sets to cut around the white papers on the inside. I've included close ups of the inside of the card and the inside of the heart (which I couldn't get to clear up for some reason or another).

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

CPS Card Sketches - sketch

Craftalicious Challenges - anything

Cricut Couple - love with a cricut cut

Sentimental Sundays - blk, white & another color, plus a sentiment

Tuesday Throwdown - anything

Flutter By Wednesdays - it flies

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge - butterfly

The Stamp Man Challenges - for a man

Stamp Something - digi

Meljens Design Team - anything

I hope you enjoy looking at the card, and I would love to hear what you think about it.

dj1952

Just flying by to say hi @ TCC

Well, it's time for our next Feature Friday Challenge over at The Character Cafe! Yeah! It's so easy to win some of their fabulous images. For this month we are using the color orange and this week there's an additional recipe of: 1 - flower, 2 - brads, & 3 - gems. See - that's not too difficult. Now hopefully you're not all burned out with orange. Remember that there are several shades of orange. And nothing says HOW MUCH orange you have to use. (Shhhh, don't tell anyone that I said this.) LOL! Why don't you stop by The Character Cafe and see what the rest of the design team has put together. The prize is a $5 gift certificate to the store.This little guys name is "Flutter", isn't he cute? I used my nestibilities to make the circles, and I made the tag by rounding off all of the corners, puching a hole at the end and adding twine to hang it with. The lace raffia is some I got from the UK. (I've wanted some of this since I first saw it several months ago, and it seems that they don't sell it here in the US.) I like the way the MS punch goes along with the raffia so perfectly. The brads and jewels are some I've had for ages. Now to the flower - I'm really thrilled as to how it came out. This is another flower I learned how to make by following instructions on You Tube. The video can be found by searching for TheJbrideau or "Flower Tutorial - Prima Petite Mums". I used the "button" on pg. 38 of Paisley. Then I misted them with my homemade glimmermist, used my promarkers to bleed the colors together and added the brad and jewel for the center.
I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Crazy 4 Challenges - fall

The Paper Players - sketch

Craftalicious Challenges - anything

The Crafty Pad - distressing

The Shabby Tea Room - autumn & brown

2 Sketches 4 You - sketch

Penny's Paper Crafty-Challenge - anything that flies

Thanks for looking. I'd love it if you'd leave me a comment.

dj1952

Character Cafe Blog Hop

Hello everyone. I wanted to share with you some fantastic news. I've been chosen to be on the Design Team for The Character Cafe! They have some of the best images, I know I've been a fan for some time now. I'm their latest newbie, and this is the first time I've ever been on a Design Team. Woo hoo! This blog hop is to introduce the newest releases as well as, the newest Design Team members and those who are returning. I fell in love with the image here which I was able to use for my first card. It's a female mallard duck and her chicks. Aren't they adorable? (It's too bad that the males get the beautiful colors, of course it could be to hide the fact that they don't have the awesome personalities that the ladies have. LOL!)

I used my Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol to color the digi. I added some stickles on the water to give it a bit of a movement. The paper is open stock paper I purchased at Michaels. The lace is from Bunny Zoe's store. (I'll tell you about that in another post.) It's almost hidden, but I do have some paper that I ran through my Cuttlebug.)

Well, now on to the rules for the blog hop. It will start at The Character Cafe Store. If you came here from the talented Deanette, then you came from the right place. If you get lost along the way all you have to do is return to the store to see the order. If you would like to win any of the digis you see, you need to give some love to all the lovely ladies along the way. I will also choose a winner for the mallard duck family for all who leave a comment at my blog. You'll see some fabulous and awesome cards for inspiration. Also you need to leave a final comment at then end of the hop to have an opportunity to win the grand prize of a $5 gift certificate and 2 of the new release digis of your choice.

The hop ends at 10 p.m EST on Thursday the 14th and the winner will be announced on Friday the 15th. To continue you need to go to see what Tina, another awesome newbie, created. I'm sure you'll want to stop by and purchase some of these wonderful digis for yourself too, since now's a great time, because there is a discount for the duration of the hop. Have fun and congratulations to all the winners to come.

TFL,

dj1952

I'm also entering this in the following challenges:

Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturdays - anything

Incy Wincy Designs - glitter

Karbers Challeges - digi

Pollycraft Challenge Blog - anything

A Spoon Full of Sugar - sparkle

Digital Tuesday Challenge - buttons

Papertake Weekly Challenge - sketch and a favorite challenge - mine is the sketch from the last challenge

Creative Cottage Challenge - bling

Fab n' Funky Challenges - digi

Ooh La La Creations - no florals

Thanks again.

dj

Moon Over Paris

Click on image to enlarge.

Close up of cafe and couple.

It seems like I've been working forever on this card. Of course, it was a labor of love because it's for one of my daughters and her sweet husband for their 10th wedding anniversary. It took me a while to decide what I wanted to do in the first place, and then I kept losing parts of the card. The cafe disappeared until I had made a second one, and the couple disappeared for several intense minutes, with me and my hubby trying to find them. It seems they had taken a ride on my schnauzer, Oliver to the other side of the table (on the floor, of course). Lol. Since they have been to Paris, I thought they would enjoy the card. (They loved it!)

Another reason that I made this card was for a challenge for a Cricut Circle challenge. "French Manor" is one of the exclusive carts for those who join the "Circle". The challenge, however called for two cuts from this cart, so I added the word "Amore" over the moon.

You may not be able to tell it from the photo but the card is very large (6"x10"). I had to do this so I had people that could be cut and then seen. And of course the Eiffel tower had to be large since it was behind the cafe. I used my Prismacolor pencils to shade and color all of the different cut items. I used three Cricut cartridges for this card; French Manor, My Community and Sweethearts. I wanted to use more than one paper, but I knew most anything I used might be too busy. So I used one of my Quickcutz embossing folders on top of the dp from K&Co. I didn't plan it this way, but my hubby said it looked like fireworks. So, instead of them being outside during the day, I decided to have it be at night. I used tissue paper as the curtains, and a small piece of lace at the large window of the cafe. The little flowers are a felt lace I found on-line.

Hope you enjoy the card, and that you will leave some kind words.

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Crafts 4 Eternity - sketch (All the elements are here, but not exactly how the sketch looked.) & lavender & lace

Secret Crafter - purple and silver

Crazy 4 Challenges - bling

One Stitch at a Time - anything

Pocket Full of Posies - lavender & lace

Incy Wincy Designs - anything

dj1952

P.S. Before I started my blog, the only place that I posted cards was on the Cricut message board. There, I was impressed quite often by Jeannie Phillips. One card in particular that I liked was when she used this cafe as her card and had the couple in front. Thanks Jeannie for all of the inspiration you give to others.

Baby in bath

Click on image to enlarge.

Isn't this baby so cute? I just had to come up with a cute caption for him. My husband helped me with an idea I had. He really does look a little perplexed. It's really a very simple card. The background paper is embossed with a cuttlebug folder. I used a MS punch in two colors. After coloring the image I cut it out and pop-dotted it. The very real looking bubbles are from Nicecrane Designs. I love them!

I was inspired by Kym of Digi Doodles to color the eyes. I think they look so much better.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Digi Doodle Shop's Best - anything
Sew Many Challenges - embossing
Character Cafe - sketch
Fairy Fun Friday - embossing
CES Challenges - baby
Stamptacular Sunday - grid & stamp
Polly Craft Challenge - cute & cuddley -
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge - baby

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you will leave a message.

dj1952

Thank you sew beary much...

Click on image to enlarge.

Well, I didn't get this finished yesterday, and today I had to go to the doctor's office, so I almost didn't get it done today either. The bear is from D2D and is the second freebie I received from them. I paper pieced the pants, snake belt and shirt on the fellow. Then I thought it would look cute with the string placed around the frame. I used a MS punch and my stash of buttons. The papers are by K&Co and Paper Pizzaz for the jeans paper.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Delightful Inspiration - use their image
The Character Cafe - sketch
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturday Challenge - thank you
Paper Sundaes - three types of embellis - buttons, string & border punch
Craftalicious Challenges - thank you

Thanks for stopping by and perhaps making a nice comment.

dj1952

I'd rather be fishing

Click on image to enlarge.

Hello again. I just love the LOTV stamps. They are so adorable. I'll have one of their little girls in the next couple of posts from now. I needed to get this card posted tonight and I have another one I need to have done by tomorrow. These papers are from K&Co. The mat and frame are cut with Storybook using my CDS. The buttons are some I got from Michaels. Not much else other than the faux stitching.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Lili of the Valley Thursday Challenge - for the boys

Stamptacular Sunday - sketch

Allsorts Challenge - fall colors

Catch the Bug Challenge Blog - fall colors

Mark's Finest Papers - fall colors

A Spoonfull of Sugar - fall colors

Creative Card Crew - fall colors

Wow! Everyone must be ready for fall! Hope you enjoy my card.

dj1952