Dreamtime Designs Challenge #3 -- EXTENDED!

Wow!

How is possible that 2014 is upon us?

I hope that you are all blessed with happiness, love, and endless craftiness in this new year.

The Design Team at

Dreamtime Designs Craft Challenges

has decided to extend our third challenge until the end of January.

Since so many people have been lucky enough to receive new crafting tools and supplies over the past couple of weeks, this is the perfect time for this theme.

That theme is:

My Techniques:

A Technique I've Never Tried Before

Previously the challenge had included a Christmas twist but we've dropped that point so that any project is now eligible.  As long as you're using a new technique and let us know what it is, you're all set.

Our sponsor this month is

The lucky winner will receive a one year subscription to

Through the Craft Room Door.

Included with the subscription is access to all previous issues and all of the free digis that have been featured in all of those issues.  There are dozens of images!!  Just the images makes the subscription price such a great value.  But that isn't all that you receive....there are fantastic tutorials and inspiration pieces in each issue as well. 

We really hope to see a lot of entrants for this challenge.  This challenge we are allowing you to submit 2 projects.  So if you've already joined us once, please feel free to do so again!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

I truly appreciate the time you spend here!

Happy New Year!!

Hiding in My Craft Room -- Anything BUT a holiday

Welcome to the final challenge of 2013 for

Hiding in My Craft Room

This week I'm really happy to tell you that the theme is:
Anything BUT a holiday!!

I think I may have skipped with joy just a little bit as I was putting away my Christmas crafting supplies yesterday.  They will be great to see again next year but for now:  enough already!

My card this week is crazy with color.  I started with Lacy Sunshine's Eleanor Painting Ladybugs image.  Next, the papers were chosen.  Since I knew the colors needed to be really bright and fun for this card, I went to my 6x6 pad of Glitz Finnley.  It's full of great patterns and eye popping colors.

The sentiment stamp from Inkadinkado's Friendly Advice was perfect for the direction I wanted to take this card.

I didn't have any beads that were the right colors for this card but still really wanted to use one of these adorable little bottles.  What to do?  Use some bright pink embossing powder, of course.  It's actually Ruby Red from Stampendous.  The color deepens a lot after the powder has been heated.

Here are a few more shots of some of the other embellishments:

I had so much fun working with this image....I always do when I color Eleanor!  She reminds me of my future daughter-in-law with that sweet little face and great big glasses.

I added some super small dots of Liquid Pearls in Petal Pink around the image.  First I stamped hearts and flourishes from My Cute Stamps' Lots of Love in Memento Desert Sand.  The little butterflies are from Tim Holtz's Flights of Fancy set.  They were stamped using Victorian Velvet.  I stamped it off once on scrap paper and then onto to the image sheet.  This helped keep the color very soft.  I inked around the image with Victorian Velvet also.  The corners for the image and the mats beneath it were all shaped using We R Memory Keepers' Deco Corner Chomper.

So there is my card for this week's new challenge at

Hiding in My Craft Room.

I hope you have a chance to go take a look at the other items done by the rest of the HIMCR Design Team.  There's always a huge variety of really great inspiration pieces!

Of course, we would all love for you to join in the fun of the new challenge.  Good luck to all who enter.

You can find this card in the following challenges:

Crafts-Too Challenge You -- Natural world; things with wings

Digitally Sweet Challenges -- Anything goes

Sarah Hurley -- Create your own background

Charisma Cardz -- Anything goes

Crafty Little Fairies -- Anything goes

Cute Card Thursday -- Anything goes

Crafty Creations -- Anything goes

Thanks for stopping by today.

Have a great last few days of 2013!!

Creative Fingers thanks our sponsors

I'm proud to announce my new spot on the fabulous Design Team at

Creative Fingers!

The group of crafters that I'm joining are all so uniquely talented and super friendly.  I really look forward to getting to know them better.  There's no doubt that I'll be inspired by these ladies.

Angelique (our fearless and brilliant leader) came up with an idea that all of us on the DT think is just fantastic.  Each of the sponsors from the 2013 Creative Fingers challenges has had a special card made thanking them for their involvement.  It is only by the generosity these sponsors extend that fun prizes are available each week.  They most definitely deserve our Thanks!!

I was happy to be able to use one of the fantastic Santa images from Scrapper's Delights.  (The North Pole sign is also from Scrapper's Delights.  It is sold separately from Santa.)  Honestly, this is one of my favorite images of the Jolly Old Elf that I've used.  What a great face on this guy!

Because I do love this image so much, I kept the design of this card very simple.  I wanted to completely spotlight Santa.  That great silver background paper is from Paper Temptress.  It is Mirrored Reflective Cardstock that I scored a few lines along both sides.  I just added some small silver brads to the corners of the image mat.

I hope that you have a chance to go take a look at all of the cards made by the Creative Fingers DT to express our sincere appreciation for the support these great sponsors provide.

May you enjoy a blessed and very Merry Christmas.

Thank you for spending time with me today!!

Just Inspirational Challenges and Papercrafting World

Welcome to a new challenge at

Just Inspirational Challenges.

This week we would love to see your gift wrap projects.  So if you've made some really cute gift bags, boxes or tags it's time to show them off!

Our sponsor this week is

Paper Crafting World.

While surfing around YouTube recently, I came across a lovely lady who goes by the moniker Pootles Papercraft.  She is awesome!  There are several projects using an envelope punch board that really intrigued me and worked straight into this challenge.  I made Sam's tab tie box and added the adorable Elf in Medallion image to the front of the box.

In this photo you can see that the DSP I used
for the box split at my score lines.
To camouflage this, I just inked around
all of the edges.

I used my ProMarkers to color this silly
little elf.

Please take the time to go check out Sam's great video.  You'll be amazed at how easy this box is to make.  I'll definitely be doing more of these.  And I really look forward to trying more of her projects.  Of course, this cute little elf from Paper Crafting World will be finding it's way on to some of those projects!

All of us on the Design Team at

Just Inspirational Challenges

would love to see your gift wrap presents.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas!!

Hiding in My Craft Room #129

A brand new challenge is opening today at

Hiding in My Craft Room.

This week we want to you go back through your own projects and CASE yourself.  Fun, right?  Now is the perfect time to make those little changes you wish you had done the first time 'round.  Or maybe there's a birthday card you really love and wish you had another one for someone special.  Make one this week and add it to our challenge.

I decided to maintain a few of the primary elements of a card I did using Mo Manning's oh so sweet "Sticky" image while changing up the overall feel of the card.  Here is my first version:

And here is my CASEd and revised version:

You can see that I've used tags back behind both images just switched their placement.  The image is obviously the same on both cards but changing the colors makes them both so unique.   This is something I adore about several of Mo Manning's images.  The adorable babies can quite often be either boy or girl which makes them a really great investment, in my opinion.

The position of the image mat is basically the same on both cards with a vertical element along the left side.  (This seems to be a very common design for my cards....guess it's just what feels comfortable to my eye.)  Both cards feature several layers.  Beyond these similarities, my cards take completely different forks in the road.  While the first one is very masculine, my renewed version is most decidedly girly.  I love both of them.  A lot.

Here are a few more pictures of the newer card:

I had so much fun making both of these cards.  It's really interesting to see how one image can be used in such very different styles.  This is something I look forward to doing again.

Okay, now it's time for you to go back through your projects and find one that you really love and want more of or maybe one that you think you could improve.  Make sure you go take a look at all of the other Design Team pieces at Hiding in My Craft Room.  There is always such a huge variety of items; it's fun to see what everyone does!  We hope you can join us!!

My revised card can be found in the following challenges:
A Creative Romance -- Sparkle at Christmas
Craftitude -- Christmas sparkle
Jellypark Friends -- Christmas
QKR -- Happy Holidays
Totally Paper Crafts -- Christmas with non-traditional colors
Milk Coffee -- Any Christmas creation
Feeling Crafty -- Christmas
Di's Digis -- Anything Christmas

Chromatic Craze Guest Designer

Today I'm happy to tell you that I've been invited to serve as Guest Designer at Chromatic Craze for their sixth challenge.

Like all of the challenges at Chromatic Craze, this one is a color challenge....hence the name: Chromatic Craze.  Here is the fantastic and very fun combo for this month:

This was one of my favorite color pallets to use during my days as a florist.  It is so bright and cheerful; I just love it!

You are invited to make any new project as long as you use at least 3 of the challenge colors.  Have some fun with it!!

I sure did.

I've been playing with zen doodling recently and had wanted to try my hand at filling an image with different doodles.  This color combo just seemed like a great chance to really go crazy with my design.  Why not, right?  What good is crafting if you don't stretch your creative horizons and have some fun?

Here is the result of a lot of time spent with my ProMarkers

and Lacy Sunshine's fantabulous Pearl Sea Kissed Mermaid.

This image almost completely fills an 8.5"x11" piece of paper.  It was necessary for it to be this large for me to be able to fit doodles in the areas.

You can see in the photos, that I just let Heather's lines dictate where my doodling areas started and stopped.  Pearl's hair was really a lot of fun to do.  For the most part, I just left all of the lines as they were.  A couple of lines were extended to make more defined areas.

While the designs look really intricate, they're really just simple lines, zig zags, curves &/or circles repeated over and over.  You can find loads of different patterns around the net.  One of the places that I find myself going back to consistently is TanglePatterns.com.  You'll be amazed at how easy so many of the patterns are once you see them broken down step by step!

Since this is such a huge image, I'm not really sure what I'll do with it ultimately.  A canvas keeps jumping to mind so we'll see if that doesn't happen.  I'll be sure to post some pics of my final project.  For now, I've just framed it and I really love the finished product!

I hope you'll get a chance to join in the fun at Chromatic Craze this month.  This will be a great chance to use a bright color pallet and move away from holiday projects!

Thanks as always for the time you've spent here today!!

You can find this project in the following challenges:
Alphabet Challenge -- W is for whatever you want
Brown Sugar -- Anything goes
Charisma Cardz -- Anything goes
Doodle Pantry -- Any digi goes
Emergency Crafters -- Anything BUT Christmas
Flat Friends Challenge -- Color combo

Addicted to Stamps & More -- Anything goes

Through the Craft Room Door Team B

I would like to invite you to a brand new challenge at

Through the Craft Room Door.

As always, our theme is

Anything Goes.

This week Team B is proud to have as our sponsor

Oozak.

A funny thing happened while I was making this card.
Without even intending to, I completely case'd another card.
I'm still unsure of how to do shading/highlighting with my ProMarkers so whenever I color an image for the first time I'll go look at how others have done them.

My search for this incredible Mo Manning image, "You're kinda' cute," lead me to a card done a few years ago by the massively talented Jak among a few others.  The use of the pins was something that really stuck out to me.  Hehehe...  When I finished my card, I went back to the search to see who should be credited with the idea.  That's when I saw that not only did I fall in love with the pins, but I also loved the trio of buttons, the flags of ribbons, and well, just about everything on the card.  You can go look at Jak's card here.

How I could possibly remember each little detail on this card after looking at for just a few minutes and yet I constantly walk into a room and have to wonder what the heck I'm doing there?  It has to be some sort of crafter's brain syndrome.  After I saw what I had done, I emailed Jak and asked if it would be okay that I included a link to her original card.  She (like most crafters) was so sweet and generous that she didn't hesitate in agreeing to me sharing.  I would like to again think her for her amazing inspiration and kindness.

This card can be found in the following challenges:

Mo's Digital Pencil -- Animals, birds, bees...

The Cutie Pie Challenge -- For someone special

Love to Create -- Anything goes

Make sure to head on over to

Through the Craft Room Door

to check out all of the other inspiration pieces Team B has prepared for you.  There are some truly talented ladies on the team!  You'll want to enter your own new project this week too so you can be in the running for our prize from Oozak.

Thanks for stopping by today!!

Created with Love Challenges Blog Hop

Welcome to a new challenge at

Created with Love.

This isn't just any ordinary challenge though.

It's time for our annual

Christmas Blog Hop.

Here's a quick look at my card:

Our sponsors are:

Broken Box Stock

This winner will receive a stamp appropriate of the season.

Stamp 'n Doodle 

This winner will receive 2 images of winner's choice

I chose to work with the fun Christmas Visitor
image from Stamp 'n Doodle.
There is a complete scene surrounding Santa
but I fussy cut around him so he was
really highlighted.

In order to win one of our prizes, you must enter the challenge

and leave comments on every blog.

Some of our team members might be offering blog candy,

so be sure to become a follower of each team member too.

Here is the order of the HOP....

Chris

Dawn

Caroline

Holly

Linda

Maria

Marsha

Pam

Rachel

Roberta...you are here!

Now you have till Saturday,

December 21, 2013,

9 PM EST, to hop and enter to win. 

We will be on Christmas break from 

December 21, 2013

to January 5, 2014.

BUT we will be back next week with our winners.

You can  find this card in the following challenges:
Anonymous Stamps -- Anything goes
C...is for Challenge -- Traditional Christmas
Crafty Boots -- Christmas

Come and Get It Christmas Blog Hop

Today I just want to remind you of the incredible month long blog hop we're having to celebrate Christmas over at

Come and Get It.

There are so many incredible sponsors and loads of prizes to be won...you really should go check it out!!

Along the way you'll be looking for some secret letters that need to be emailed to comeandgetitchallenge@gmail.com.

My secret letter is B....as in Queen Bee.

This week I was lucky enough to get to choose an image from

QKR Stampede.

How could I possibly refuse
this awesome image?!

I kept the design of the card very simple
so the image and that hilarious sentiment
could really stand out.

Items used for this card were:

Coloring medium:  ProMarkers

Cardstock:  Bazzill Basics and Recollections

DSP and buttons:  Michaels dollar bin

Baker's twine:  We R Memory Keepers

You can find this card in the following challenges:

Color Me Creative -- #83 Holiday themed

Digi Haven -- Merry Christmas card

I hope you have a chance to follow all of the links of the blog hop.

There are so really great inspiration projects by all of the Design Team and those incredible prizes up for grabs.

Have fun...and make sure you start here:

Come and Get It Challenges.

Here are links to Judy's and Meighan's blogs...Judy is just before me on the hop list and Meighan is just after me.

  

Here's the complete list for the hop:

Come and Get It

Julie

Bunny

Shell

Jo

Judy

Me

Meighan

Barb

Cindy

Hiding in My Craft Room with Sweet 'n Sassy

Hello and thanks for stopping by today.

I'm happy to invite you to an all new challenge at

Hiding in My Craft Room.

This week is our always fun

Super Scraps Saturday.

So time to clean off your desk and clear out that bin of bits and pieces to see what kind of incredible new creation you can make.

Here's a quick peek at my card for this week:

This week we have a great sponsor offering 3 images of the winner's choice!  Thanks so much to Sweet 'n Sassy for the generous prize and for allowing the Design Team to play with some of your great images.

I chose one of the adorable Cocoa Mouse images.
Normally, I'm not a huge fan of mice...
but he's just so darned cute I couldn't refuse.

Along the bottom of the card, I first embossed
a row of snowflakes with clear embossing powder.
I then went back over with white embossing powder
using a larger snowflake stamp.

The tag I used to prop up the easel portion
is from a Recollections punch.
I punched it 3 times: once in kraft with the sentiment,
once in green and once in red.
I cut the green and red layers in half and
then glued them along the outer edge
of the one above.

I hope you'll be able to take some time

to go through your scraps to see what you can create.

All of us on the Hiding in My Craft Room Design Team

are looking forward to seeing all of the new projects....

and don't forget the chance to win a few great images from

Sweet 'n Sassy.

You can find this card in the following challenges:

Brown Sugar Challenges -- Christmas
Chocolate, Coffee, and Cards -- Happy holidays

Crafty Hands -- Season's greetings

Digi Haven -- Christmas cards