DIGI DOODLE STUDIOS DT CARD SHARE -- EASTER/SPRING -- APRIL 22, 2022

Hello friends!  Welcome back to my blog!  Today I have a Digi Doodle Studios DT card to share with you using the sweet ASHERAH FAIRY image:

Isn't she lovely?  I knew right from the start that I wanted to color her in purple and yellow, as these always seem to be the first flower colors I see in the Spring.  I echoed that thought onto the background, which was made using the SPIRO FLOWERS stencil from A Colorful Life Designs.  I chose Wilted Violet and Squeezed Lemonade oxide inks to ink blend through the stencil using blending brushes and sponge daubers.  I inked the full 6x9" stencil so that I could best choose which part of the background would look best for Asherah.  I colored her with alcohol markers, and then accentuated parts of her dress and her hair bow with white gel pen and Clear Star gel pen.  Her wings were given several coats of Wink of Stella to make them look like magical fairy wings.  I used the second largest die from the Mini Slimline set A from Spellbinders to cut my background panel, and before I adhered it to the mini slimline card base, I inked the edges of the card base with the Wilted Violet oxide using the foam applicator.  Asherah is popped up on many pieces of foam tape, some of them pretty darn tiny too!  I will add a sentiment when I need to use this card.

--CHALLENGES--

Crafting Happiness:  ATG

Besties International:  ATG (3/3)

Color It, Create It, Show it Off:  ATG w/coloring (3/3)

613 Avenue Create:  ATG (3/8)

Crafts Galore Encore #98:  ATG (3/3)

Classic Design #4:  ATG

The Paper Funday #40:  ATG (3/4)

A Place to Start:  ATG (3/8)

Let's Craft and Create #182:  ATG (3/3)

SheepSki Designs #61:  Let's Be Cute (3/3)

LeAnn's World 101 #49:  ATG

Cute as a Button #79:  ATG (3/3)

CD Sunday Plus #83:  ATG (1/3)

Colour Crazy #16:  ATG w/coloring (1/2)

Crafty Catz #592:  ATG (1/3)

Creative Moments #233:  Things with Wings

Crafty Gals Corner #230:  Spring/Easter (1/3)

The Creative Crafters #51:  ATG (1/3)

The Corrosive Challenge #4:  ATG (1/4)

Crafty Friends #154:  Spring (1/5)

Dragonfly Dreams:  Spring/Easter

Sweet Stampers #67:  Easter or Spring

That's all for me today!  Don't forget to stop by the Digi Doodle Studios challenge blog to enter the challenge for a chance to win Digi Doodle images!  There are still 8 days left to play!  DT A made some fabulous cards to inspire you too, so head on over to their blogs to leave them some love!  Until next time...

💗 Stay Healthy, Take Care, and God Bless! 💗

~ Marie

GUEST DESIGNER FOR THE OUTLAWZ TWISTED THURSDAY -- BIRDS OF A FEATHER -- APRIL 21, 2022

Hello, and welcome back to my blog!  This is my second post as a Guest Designer for The Outlawz Twisted Thursday.  EUREKA STAMPS is still sponsoring the challenge, but for the next 2 weeks the theme is BIRDS OF A FEATHER.  I chose this cute image called Feeding the Birds.  Here is my card:

I am so glad that I got to work with this adorable snowman image for my second GDT card...rest assured, if there is a snowman available, I will use it!  I love, love, LOVE snowmen if you don't know that already!  As always, I used my Silhouette Design software to size and cut the image.  I also cut the scalloped oval mat for the image.  I got the lovely shade of green for the scalloped layer and for the rectangular mat layer by inking the edges first with Twisted Citron oxide ink, and then going over it with Mowed Lawn oxide.  It looks brighter in the pics than it actually is.  IRL, it matches the green stripes in the plaid paper, which is from MFT's Cheerful Plaid 6x6 paper pad.  

The adorable image was colored with alcohol markers, and the snowman's body was covered in several coats of Wink of Stella.  I also used Wink of Stella on the "snow" word.  The letters were die cut using Henry's ABC's from Lawn Fawn.  Since I had made my image panel so large for an A2 sized card, I had to get creative with my snow word so that it would lay properly.  I cut each letter 5 times from Accent Opaque 100lb. cardstock, dry fit them together and placed them where I wanted them on the card to determine where I should trim the 4 lower layers.  I marked those spots with a pencil, and did the cutting using a pair of Tim Holtz scissors.  I had all 4 layers clipped together with one of those black clips you find with the stationary.  Then I glued all the bits and pieces together that I needed, and added the full letter on top.  I was pleased when it actually worked out!  Then I found this tiny "friend" word in the Honey Bee Stamps Bitty Buzzwords stamp set, which I heat embossed in white on black cardstock.  I channeled my inner Jennifer McGuire and used pieces of the black cardstock to prop up the right side of the word to the same level as the "W." 😁  I didn't take a picture of the inside of my card, but I stamped "Like You, Friend" using stamps from the Kindness set and the "friend" from the Bitty Buzzwords set from Honey Bee Stamps.  I am very pleased with how this card came out!

--CHALLENGES--

Thanks for stopping by today!  Head on over to the Twisted Thursday challenge at The Outlawz to share your "Birds of a Feather" creations with us!  The challenge runs for 2 weeks, so you have plenty of time.  Until next time,

💗 Stay Healthy, Take Care, and God Bless! 💗

~ Marie

LIL PATCH OF CRAFTY FRIENDS #180 SPONSORED BY ALL DRESSED UP -- APRIL 17, 2022

 Hey there friends, and welcome back to my blog!  I hope you are all staying as healthy and happy as possible.  Today starts a new challenge at the Lil Patch of Crafty Friends blog, where it's always ANYTHING GOES!  Our sponsor for this challenge is none other than:

**Exclusive Sponsor**

All Dressed Up

Prize 2 Images

SHOP

CHALLENGE BLOG

FACEBOOK

INSTAGRAM

On my card I used this adorable Little Bookworm image.

Isn't she sweet?  I wonder what book has caught her interest... I really wanted to run with the book theme for this card, so I searched through the Silhouette Store to find a book shape to use for my card base and pages.  I found a nice nesting set that I thought would work for the vision in my head.  I searched the internet to find a really good book quote, and this one caught my eye.  I thought it sounded encouraging, and yet very fitting for the image.  In the design program, I sized everything to fit the size of a regular A2 card.  I cut 2 pieces of Accent Opaque 110lb white for the card base and scored the bottom piece 3/8" in from the left to create the hinge for my card to open.  The "pages" were cut from 65lb. Recollections cardstock.  The image was colored with alcohol markers.  I inked the entire front piece of the card base (the book cover) with Brushed Corduroy oxide ink and inked only around the edges of the inside of the card.  The edges of the blank pages were inked with Antique Linen oxide ink.  Does it look weird that I didn't ink the edges of my focal panel?  I just wanted to keep it light and bright, ya know? 👍

To assemble the card, I added a piece of 1/4" double sided tape to the flap I created on the back piece and added Bearly Art Glue, so I had a bit of wiggle room when adhering the front piece to it.  After I scored each set of "pages" down the middle, I used my fingers to curl them to look like they were open. Then I placed a piece of thin foam tape between the book pages and glued them flat together in the middle.  Once they were all adhered together, I added them to the front of the card in the same way, only I needed 2 layers of thick foam tape between the card front and the "bottom page", and I also added glue to the ends of the pages.  I am extremely happy that this card turned out just how I envisioned it!

--CHALLENGES--

Crafting Happiness:  ATG

613 Avenue Create:  ATG (4/8)

Classic Design #4:  ATG

The Paper Funday #40:  ATG (4/4)

A Place to Start:  ATG (4/8)

LeAnn's World 101 #49:  ATG 

CD Sunday Plus #83:  ATG (2/3)

The Creative Crafters #51:  ATG (2/3)

The Corrosive Challenge #4:  ATG (2/4)

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you liked what you saw and will maybe be inspired to create today!  Be sure you head over to the Lil Patch of Crafty Friends blog to see the rest of the DT creations, and to join in on the ANYTHING GOES challenge.  We love to see what you create!  Until next time,

💗 Stay Healthy, Take Care, and God Bless! 💗

~ Marie

ABC CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE -- H - HO HO HO (SANTA) AND I - INKY -- APRIL 13, 2022

Hello, and welcome back to my blog!  It's the 2nd Wednesday of the month, and that means a new challenge at ABC Christmas!  The letters of the alphabet we are creating for this month are:

H - HO HO HO (Santa)

I - Inky

I used both themes on the 2 cards I created, and here they are:

I created the kraft card first, and I must say that it's the quickest card I have made in a long time!  I was grabbing my bin of Lawn Fawn stamps off the shelf, when I came across this card I had received from a coworker this past Christmas.  These 3 bold "HO's" were absolutely PERFECT!  I found a Spellbinders classic square die that fit, and cut them all out.  They did need a bit of dressing up though, so I grabbed a scrap of kraft cardstock and the appropriate Spellbinders scalloped square die and created 3 matting layers.  After gluing the pieces together, I placed them onto a kraft card base, but it definitely looked too plain.  I rummaged through my embossing folders and found this one.  I *think* it came from Michael's, but since it is not labeled I'm not sure.  I couldn't emboss the actually card base, so I grabbed out another piece of kraft the size of the 4.25 x 5.5" card base, and ran it through my Cuttlebug.  The folder made a very nice impression, but I wanted to enhance it some by adding white pigment ink over the raised areas.  Then I just adhered the 3 HO'S with foam tape, and that card was done!  I never had a plan for it at all, and it was done lickety-split!  Why can't they all be like that?

My second card took a bit longer.  Again, I was looking for something else when I came across this clear treat bag I had saved from Christmas.  I knew I was saving it for a flat shaker, so I thought "Why not?"  At first I thought that I could make it into a slimline since the bag was clearly long enough, but after doing some measuring, I discovered that wasn't going to work.  There is a HUGE "Merry Christmas" that was way too big to fit on a slimline.  So I improvised by using just the part of the bag underneath the words, which left me with a piece big enough to make my shaker a 4.25" square.  You can't tell at all in the photo, thanks to how the sequins are positioned, but the green cardstock was ink blended using Lucky Clover and Cracked Pistachio oxides.  Those 2 make such a pretty blend! 😍  I will definitely do that again sometime!  For my shaker bits, I pulled out some Sparkle Blends from Doodles Paper Playground.  They are:

Minter Is Coming

Merry Mint

Holly Berry

Old St. Nick

and 

Oh Christmas Tree

I emptied some of each out into some containers and used my jewel picker to pick out the pieces from each blend that I wanted in my shaker.  I also grabbed some miscellaneous green sequins and silver stars from my stash to round out the shaker bits.  I try to be more sparing with the Sparkle Blends since they are only made in small batches and don't always last long in Amber's shop!  I closed up my shaker and adhered it to a mat of plain white cardstock.  Then I spent some time trying to decide between 2 papers from the Perfectly Plaid Christmas 6x6 paper pad from Lawn Fawn.  I finally settled on this one, with some help from my closest crafty friends, AKA The Squirrel Squad.  I imagine they probably get tired of me asking for advice all the time!  Everything is adhered flat to the card, and for a bit of fun, I glued the shaker panel down at an angle.  For the sentiment, I die cut the "be jolly" sentiment from Lawn  Fawn's Winter Big Scripty Words lawn cuts 4 times from a scraps of Accent Opaque 100lb. white cardstock.  To get the matching stamp to fit as nicely as possible on the die cut, I placed the die cut into the negative piece inside my MISTI, and stamped it using the Lucky Clover oxide ink.  It's a little bit off, but then again, so am I! 😁

--CHALLENGES--

12 Months of Christmas Link Up #87:  ATG (1/10)

Christmas Craft Creations:  Tartan/Plaid

Crafting Happiness:  ATG

613 Avenue Create: ATG (3/8)

Classic Design #4:  ATG

Addicted to Stamps and More:  Christmas

Thanks again for stopping by today!  Be sure to come over to the ABC Christmas challenge blog and show us your H - HO HO HO and I - Inky creations.  Also, please leave the DT some comment love for their fabulous creations!  Until next time,

💗 Stay Healthy, Take Care, and God Bless! 💗

~ Marie

GUEST DESIGNER FOR THE OUTLAWZ TWISTED THURSDAY -- FURRY FRIENDS -- APRIL 9, 2022

Hey there friends!  Welcome back to my blog!  I have a Guest Design Team post for you today, where I am joining in with the fabulous designers from The Outlawz Twisted Thursday challenge.  The sponsor of this month's challenge is EUREKA STAMPS, and for the first 2 weeks, they are looking to see some furry friends. 

Eureka has many great digi stamps to choose from, and I chose this one called COOL CAT WITH SHADES.

I had this awesome idea to use this sentiment from the Lawn Fawn Meow You Doin? stamp set with this cat...and every time I said it in my head, it came out like Joey's famous line on FRIENDS. 😆 I also had the *bright* idea to make a big ole' ball of yarn out of some twine I had in my stash that I won years ago from The Twinery.  I did a search, and they don't seem to be in operation ATM. 

 Anyway, I started out by winding the twine all the way around the die cut circle, but that made it WAY TOO BULKY on the back.  Then I decided to wrap each individual strand and tape the ends on the back, which definitely made it less bulky back there, but boy did that take a while!  After dry fitting my alcohol marker colored kitty next to the yarn ball, I realized I really needed to beef up his right side, so I cut 8 more of the outline shape I had created for the image using my Silhouette and Accent Opaque 100lb white cardstock.  Using the yarn ball as a template, I marked the backs of each cut out and used the Spellbinders circle die to cut the left side off.  Once I glued them all together, I did some minor trimming with my Tim Holtz scissors and glued them to the back of the kitty.  He still needed a bit more bolstering, so I added 2 layers of thicker foam adhesive from the $$ store.  

Underneath the yarn ball, I adhered a piece of knit patterned paper from the MFT Keep Me in Stitches 6x6 paper pad...I thought it fit in well with my yarn ball. 😀 I glued the yarn ball down to the card base with Simon Says Stamp Craft Tacky Glue and applied pressure with my hands until I was sure it was stuck.  Then I added my cool cat by adding Bearly Art Glue under his left side and to the foam adhesive for a little wiggle room.

I had lots of space at the top of the card for my sentiment, so I decided to use a combination of die cut letters and stamping.  I die cut 3 of each letter of "meow" from Lawn Fawn's Henry's ABC's (LOVE this alphabet set!), adhered them all together for dimension and colored them with V17, V15, and V12 in Copics.  I was holding my breath as I stamped the "YOU DOIN?" using VersaFine Clair Nocturne and a stamping block, as the dimension of the yarn ball was *kinda* in the way.  I took my time, and it came out great (whew!).  MEOW is adhered to the card base with Bearly Art Glue as well.  As a final touch, I added some highlights to the cool cat's nose and sunglasses with a white gel pen.  I totally think he is wearing Ray-Bans!

--CHALLENGES--

Crafting Happiness:  ATG 

Love to Craft #67:  ATG (6/8)

Mix it Up #58:  ATG (6/8)

Besties International:  ATG (2/3)

Color It, Create It, Show it Off:  ATG (2/3)

613 Avenue Create #202204:  ATG (2/8)

Crafts Galore Encore #98:  ATG (2/3)

Crafty Animals #60:  ATG w/animals

Classic Design #4:  ATG

Critter Crazy #61:  ATG w/a featured critter (1/5)

The Paper Funday #40:  ATG (2/4)

Unicorn Challenge #75:  Include an animal

A Place to Start #042022:  ATG (2/8)

A Perfect Time to Craft #4:  ATG 

Let's Craft and Create #182:  ATG (2/3)

SheepSki Designs #61:  Let's Be Cute (2/3)

LeAnn's World 101 #49:  ATG

Mirtillamente #8:  ATG 

Cute as a Button #79:  ATG (2/3)

Word Art Wednesday #537 - #538:  ATG (2/5)

Alphabet Challenge:  "A" for Animal Antics

Addicted to Stamps and More #426:  Make Your Mark

CD Sunday Plus #82:  ATG using digital products (2/3)

Dream Valley #267:  ATG (2/3)

Digi Choosday #14:  ATG (2/2)

Penny's Paper Crafty #518:  ATG (2/3)

Colour Crazy #14:  ATG w/ coloring (2/2)

Crafty Catz #590:  ATG (2/3)

Passion for Markers #635:  Animal Magic

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I encourage you to head on over to the Twisted Thursday challenge to share your Furry Friends with us.  Many thanks to Angela and the rest of the DT for having me!  I'll be back on the 21st with another post as their Guest Designer.  Until next time,

💗 Stay Healthy, Take Care, and God Bless! 💗

~ Marie

DIGI DOODLE STUDIOS NEW RELEASE DAY -- RAINY DAYS -- APRIL 8, 2022

Hello friends!  Welcome back to my blog!  Today is the first day of the NEW RELEASE at Digi Doodle Studios, YAY!!!  This month's theme is Rainy Days, and the images are SO CUTE!  I had the opportunity to use the adorable Decker and Moe image.  Here is my card:

I created a tiny little scene for this sweet image by ink blending Stormy Sky oxide ink (appropriate, no?) for my sky, and Mowed Lawn oxide over a Recollections grass stencil for the ground.  The raindrops are from the Beary Rainy Day stamp set from Lawn Fawn, and they were stamped using the same Stormy Sky oxide ink.  The sentiment was made by combining the "I'm here for you" from the Here for You Bear stamp set, which was the freebie from Lawn Fawn, and the "Rain or Shine" from Beary Rainy Day and was stamped in VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink using my MISTI.  I used Copics to color the image.  This is actually the second copy of the image I had colored, because as I was coloring the raincoat, I decided I wanted to use a dark green to add some deeper shadows.  It started out just fine by coloring the small stripe on the hat, but then as I started on the coat, the color came out in a BIG BLOB right in that corner where his arm is behind his leg.  UGH, I WAS SO MAD!!! 😠😠😠 When I expressed my frustration to my crafty friend Karen, she suggested that maybe I could put a sentiment over it.  I couldn't picture that looking right in my head but luckily, I already had another image printed and cut, ready to go.  Crisis averted!  Next time I used the offending marker, which was either G28 or G29, I took the cap off the other end and had no problems.  The raindrops and umbrella were given LOTS of shimmer with my clear Wink of Stella pen.

Spellbinders dies were used to create the Classic square and the Lacey square shapes.  The scalloped edge at the bottom of the card was created using a die from the Brackets, Bevels & Lace set from Sizzix.  That gorgeous yellow gingham paper is from the Gotta Have Gingham Rainbow 6x6 petite paper pad, also from Lawn Fawn.  The card base is 110lb Accent Opaque white in a 5.5" x 5.5" square.  The image was popped up on thin foam adhesive, and the whole image panel was popped up using thicker foam adhesive.  Despite the setback during the coloring of the image, I had fun making this card, and I am super happy with how it turned out!  Here are a couple more pics:

--CHALLENGES--

Crafting Happiness #122:  ATG 

CHN Patterned Paper:  ATG using patterned paper

Love to Craft #67:  ATG (5/8)

Mix It Up #58:  ATG (5/8)

Besties International:  ATG (1/3)

Color It, Create It, Show It Off:  ATG w/coloring (1/3)

613 Avenue Create #202204:  ATG w/optional twist of April Showers (1/8)

Crafts Galore Encore #98:  ATG (1/3)

Crafty Animals #60:  ATG w/animals

Classic Design:  ATG

The Paper Funday #40:  ATG w/optional twist of April Showers

Unicorn Challenge #75:  Include an Animal

A Place to Start #042022:  ATG (1/8)

A Perfect Time to Craft #4:  ATG 

Let's Craft and Create #182:  ATG (1/3)

SheepSki Designs #61:  Let's Be Cute (1/3)

Crafty Friends #154:  Spring (1/5)

Dragonfly Dreams:  Easter/Spring (1/3)

LeAnn's World 101 #49:  ATG

Mirtillamente #8:  ATG 

Cute as a Button #79:  ATG (1/3)

Word Art Wednesday #537 - #538:  ATG (1/5)

Double Trouble #107:  Create a Scene

Alphabet Challenge:  "A" for Animal Antics

Addicted to Stamps and More #426:  Make Your Mark

CD Sunday Plus #82:  ATG using digital products (1/3)

Dream Valley #267:  ATG (1/3)

Everybody Art #511:  Chicken and/or duck and/or rabbit 

Simon Says Monday:  Easter/Spring

Digi Choosday #14:  ATG (1/2)

Penny's Paper Crafty #518:  ATG (1/3)

Colour Crazy #14:  ATG w/coloring (1/2)

Crafty Catz #590:  ATG (1/3)

Passion for Markers #635:  Animal Magic

I appreciate you stopping by today.  Don't forget to join Team A on the challenge blog for the EASTER/SPRING challenge...we all enjoy seeing what you create!  Until next time friends,

💗 Stay Healthy, Take Care, and God Bless!  💗

~ Marie