Is it Spring yet?

It's been a rainy day here, but the good news is now we have a patio in our backyard. We've been without for 8 months, and let me tell you that with two boys who love the outdoors, not being able to let them out there has been a pain. Last summer's gift to us turned out to be a HUGE nightmare, but God has blessed us with the people that fixed it today. Now to save for a roof top for it.

My card today is a Spring/Easter one as I've been wanting warmer and sunnier weather (like most of ya'll I'm sure) and it's also to remind ya'll that today is Dare to be Sassy over at Sassy Studio Designs. The challenge this week is to use flowers and butterflies with a Sassy image. I splattered some Patina Glimmer Mist on the white cardstock to give it some character, embossed and distressed the pink cardstock, and embossed the green c/s as well. Using some scrap green I used Martha's grass punch (my new fav I think) to ground my sky and create a backdrop of some sort for my Sassy image. I used March Hare from Sassy Studio Designs and colored her with my copics. The sun/flower was created with two flowers and a yellow bling brad (in fact, I painted the flowers with some yellow shimmerz paint to help make it sparkle and shine). The little butterflies were added along the bottom because 1) I love butterflies and who doesn't and 2) they're just so darn cute there with their little bling body and inked edges on the wings. Looking at the card now, I kinda wished I added some glitter to the pink and did a littel more sky feel on the blue as well as some sponging on the green grass. Oh well, it's still cute, lol.

Challenges used (and there are many):
Sassy Studio Design - use flowers and butterflies
Sunday sketch & stamp - sketch
Digital Tuesday - spring
Die cut dreams - new beginnings (Spring/Easter is all about new beginnings)
Crafty cardmakers - spring
The cuttlebug spot - if you had wings (my cute little butterflies)
Stamp with fun - Easter
Esty inspired - I was inspired from this by the blue in the gem and the wings (although I used butterfly wings here)
Totally gorguss - ribbon
The secret Crafter - spring
Our Creative Corner - easter
One Stop Craft challenge - think Shine (my shimmery and shinging bling and glitter)
All sorts of challenge - Spring
Crafty Catz weekly challenge - spring
Flutter by Wednesday - anything goes as long as it has butterflies, angles, or fairies
Little Red Wagon - inspiration photo

Butterfly day

I've got a couple of butterfly cards for ya' today. I did color a third one, but it's still waiting to be transformed into something. The two I'm showing are me trying out the feathering technique with my copics (which is one of the reasons why the image is a butterfly as it's easier for me to try out the technique). The other reason for the image is that they make me think of spring and Easter - both of which symbolize new life and new beginnings. The butterfly went from a catapillar to a beautiful butterfly; it was transfromed into a new life. I've been thinking about that lately...



Anyway, back to the cards. The first one is really clean and simple with the stuble textures of the ribbon and the embossed yellow background. I even clear embossed a small Easter wishes saying in the bottom right corner although it's hard to see in the picture.


Challenges used:
Crafty Creations - spots & dots
Belli challenge - sketch
The Play Date Cafe - color challenge (medium pink, pale pink, pale yellow)
No Time To Stamp - CAS texture
Oh Alice - Spring
Stampin for the weekend - Easter
Stampin Sisters in Christ - CAS
Frosted Designs - spring



The second card uses the Martha Stewart grass punch (loving this punch too) and is another fairly CAS card. I used the same dot embossed background on the yellow and made the flower. I thought this would make a nice spring any reason kind of card. The greens were sprayed with Key Lime Pie Glimmer Mist.

Challenges used:

Flutter by Wed - green

Creative Inspirations - white, yellow, green (the white is the ink I used on the blue paper and parts of the butterfly)

Poppy Seed Challenge - buttons, polka dots, light moss

Simon Says - Green

Stamp Challenges - distress something (the flower)

Taylored Espressions - sketch

Just Us Girls - color challenges (lt. brown, lt blue, yellow, lt green)

Our Daily Bread - spring/new life

Rosie D's - yellow, green, white

A Chance for some Blog Candy

Stamp and Create has a weekly blog candy and this week's candy rocks. Be sure you check it out here!

Waltzing Mouse blog hop

I have only recently discovered this stamp company called Waltzing Mouse Stamps. The owner is a great (and fun) Irish gal (who yes, does live in Ireland - oh to be able to visit that country on day). Several of her stamps work with several of the different Nesties (one of the newest being the eggs). In honor of her hertitage, WMS is hosting a St. Patty's Day Customer Blog Hop.

I decided to go with a CAS kind of card for this image as I really wanted the image to be the focal point. I really like this digi image she created for those of us who haven't yet been able to get some of her stamp sets yet. I am still working on my copic coloring of greens, but I thought this turned out pretty good as a start. The saying came with the image and I printed it on my card base and then went over it with a nice green to make it stand out.

challenges used:

CAS - sketch

Fussy and Fancy - green

stamp challenges - cream/green

cute card thursday - celebration

dare U2 digi - no patterned paper (I made my own)
Color Create Challenge - mint, chocolate, white

crazy 4 challenges - masculine

Hope stamp Eternal - cupcake inspired

Cupcake Craft Challenge - going green

Esty inspired - be inspired from this site (I was inspired with these earrings)

Digital Tuesday - St. Patty's Day/green

Little Red Wagon - use copics

Bee Crafty - spring (St. Patty's day is one of the celebrations that kicks off spring for me)

Springtime in Sassyland

Are ya'll ready for another super cute Sassy Studio Designs release? I know I am. Lindsay has added to her Lani line with some fun Alice in Wonderland images. She has also created a reallly cute springtime image. Be sure to leave some love at each blog as there are three prizes up for grabs, but you won't know how has them until the winners are revealed. We're going to be hanging out and chatting later today (the 14th) and hope ya'll can join us. Be sure you check out the SSD blog for a challenge and a cool prize.

Here's my day late sample card. Sorry about that. This is such a sweet and peacful image of springtime. I had lots of fun making this one too. The layers of butterflies were fun to do thanks to Martha Stewart's butterfly punches. The green paper is printed from some digi-papers I have. I also added some spots on the yellow for a sunshine type effect. I also really enjoyed trying out the grass effect with copics. I added some yellow flock to the chicks to give them some fuzz. The image is SSD's Chelsea and her chicks. The card is a trifold as the image overlaps the middle part of the card and the bottom butterfly is used to hold the front flap in place.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Sassy ladies.
Anita
Cassie (ME)
Gini
Jacquie
Jen
Larisa
Laurel
Lelia
Lisa
Piali
Sara
Susan
Val
SSD Blog

Challenges used:
Paper Cutz - anything goes
Charisma - butterflies
Flutter By Wed - include a butterfly, angel, or fairy
PaperPlay - seeing double (my two set of butterflies)
Paper Sundaes - Easter/spring card
Just Us Girls - flap card
CardPatterns - sketch
One Stop Craft - spots & dots
Sat. Challenge - anything goes
Totally Gorguss - sweet
Stampin' Sisters in Christ - peace
SophistiCat - new beginnings (spring represents new beginnings as do the chicks)

Pink elephant - spring
Copic creations - favorite copic tech (making the grass and red hair)

Do you know what time it is?

I've got some sneeks for ya'll for the upcoming Sassy Studio Design release on the 15th. Lindsay is now selling her Lani line at her store (some may be familiar with them) and she has decided to add to them. This is the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland Lani style. What a fun image she is to play with. I even tried out my Prismacolors for these. I colored the first one with all Prismacolors and one the second one I only used them for her hair (on both I used copics for the skin). I need to practice using them I think as my shading is kinda flat, but it's fun and am excited to try it again. Be sure you join us on the 15th. Sorry for the fuzzy pictures. I don't know what happened.

Card #1

Challenges used:
Friday Sketchers - sketch

SophistiCat Challenges - flourishes and bling

Crafty Calendar - flowers

Crazy 4 Challenges - paper piercing

Ditgital Tuesday - paper piercing

Lexi's Creations - anything goes

Card #2: I added white flock to her ears and tail on this one to give her some texture. Love that stuff! The background was made using PTI's Mod Squad stamp set.

Challenges used:
Our Creative corner - sketch

Saturday Spotlight - friendship (although both could fit this one)

Etsy Inspired - I was inpsired with this picture

Scrap, Stamp, Doodle - anything goes

Oh Alice - color inspiration (red, blue, purple)

Whimsie Doodles - glitter

Victoria Case blog candy

Victoria Case is getting ready for new relase over at SCAD and is offering up some wonderful blog candy to go along with it. Be sure you check out her blog for the information and to look at her great work.

I'm hoping to be back later tonight with some sneeks at the upcoming Sassy Studio Design images.

St. Patty's Day CAS style

I've got a quick card for ya'll today. No stamps were used in the making of this card either. I hand wrote the sentiment and underlined it with some light green bling. Spritzed some Key Lime Pie glimmer mist spray on the card for a slpattered look and on both flowers. I love how both used the same designed and yet they turned out really different just because of the distress. When I think of St. Patty's Day, I also think of spring as the color of green just reminds me of the new growth starting.

Clean:

Distress:

Challenges used:

CAS - sketch

Paper Cutz Challenge - St. Patty's Day

Stampin' for the weekend - monochromatic

Rosie D's Challenge - spring

Pile it on - one color plus a neutral

Cute Car Thursday - lucky green

cupcake challenge - flower power (the button centered flowers I made)

Stamp with Fun - spring

Tuesday Taggers - St. Patty's Day

Sassy March Mixer

Today is another Sassy Studio Design release day. I'm using Satine for my card. This is a special card too as it is for my mom. I'm lucky to have her as my mom too as she is also one of my best friends. This is a quick post for me though. Sorry, it's been a long weekend and I really need to get to bed. Today's release will be small and there is a blog hop with some surprise blog candy. Three of the DTs will be giving away an image to a winner who leaves a comment. Be sure to leave some love at everyone's blog as there's no telling where the prizes are :)


SSD girls:
Anita
Cassie (ME)
Gini
Jacquie
Jen
Larisa
Laurel
Lelia
Lisa
Piali
Sara
Susan
Val
SSD Blog


The challenges used:
Clean & Simple - sketch

Fussy and Fancy - movies (she reminds me of Mulin Rouge)

Allsorts Challenge - Mother's day

One Stop Craft - optimistically pink

Saturday Spotlight - clean things up (clean edges and a CAS card)

Stamp, Scrap, Doodle - sparkle and shine (I painted the back of the transparency with shimmerz paint, glittered the image and star, painted the edges of the pink polka dots with shimmerz paint, the bling from the star)

Toally gojuss - mom

Cinema Saturday - Spiderman movie (use transparency - behind the image, and the white twine reminds me of a spiders hairy leg)

Pile it On - lucky me (lucky to have my mom)