There's No People Like Snow People!

The color of springtime is in the flowers,

the color of winter is in the imagination. ~ Terri Guillemets

It's sassy time...  time for Sassy Cheryl's weekly challenge. Although this challenge is set for two weeks so the sassy gals get a bit of time to spend enjoying the holidays.

Hostess Sassy Judy's theme is a Snowman with a Die Cut.. and I couldn't resist coloring up these two cuties.

For my die cut, I used felted wool and a Sizzix die called "Primitive Hearts"... just perfect for the love that is apparent for this snowy couple.

I do hope that you will join us in our new challenge  - you've got two full weeks to come up with a sassy creation.

Have a great week, friends!

I'm also entering this in these challenges today...

• Catch The Bug - Baby it's cold outside
• Craft Your Days Away  - Snowmenr
• Crafty Calendar - Cold and Frosty
• Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas - Anything goes for Christmas
• Di's Digis Designs - Christmas
• Drunken Stampers - Glittery Holiday
• Marks Finest Papers - Christmas card
• My Sheri Crafts  - Let it Snow
• One Stop Craft - Christmas Sparkle
• Totally Gorjuss - For Someone special

Just Because

Do you have those days where you just want to color, color, color?  I do...and fortunately I often have images all colored up and ready to be turned into cards. This stamped image is from one of those days when I got so lost just coloring... with not a care in the world. Does that happen to you?

It's one of my favs from Whipper Snapper Designs.

I made this for a friend's little grandchild who happens to be crazy about Lion King... and what a perfect image for her birthday card.

Since I love challenges, I'm linking it up to these...

Anything Goes - Anything Goes

Celebrate the Occasion - Any Occasion + Ribbon

Crafts 4 Eternity - Anything Goes

Critter Sketch - Anything Goes

Deep Ocean - Happy Birthday

Digistamps 4 Joy: Anything Goes

Pile it On - Do it for Fun!

Scrapalicious Challenge - Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Speedy the Cats Friends - Polkadots

 

 

Happy Fall

You probably have heard me write about Fall being my favorite season.. it truly is. I find myself much more motivated when the drastic heat goes away.

This is a Whipper Snapper stamp that I've colored every Fall for the last few years.  It's one of my all-time favs for card-making and giving and just perfect for coloring with Prismacolor pencils. It's funny how some images are perfect for copics, and others perfect for pencil coloring.. and sometimes even a bit of both.

I'm entering this in these challenges...

The Pink Elephant - Case a card from the DT - I cased Lori's layout

Simon Says - Anything Goes

Truly Scrumptious - Clean and Simple

Thanks so much for stopping by, friends!

Sassy Cheryl's Challenge

Want to join in a great challenge? Try the weekly challenge at Sassy Cheryl's. This week my sassy and super-talented friend, Judy, gets to hostess. She's set the theme for a candy wrapper, a decorated box or bag. I decided to get a bit of a jump start on Halloween with this little gift bag using one of the digis from Sassy Cheryls shop.

and since my camera stinks lately (it's probably the user and not the camera), here's a close-up.

There's so many great challenges this week, that I couldn't resist. I'm also entering this project in these challenges:

Alota Rubber Stamps - Orange, green, yellow

Aud Sentiments - For a Girl
Bugaboo Challenge Blog - anything goes
Card Makin Mama's - Go Digi

Cute and Girly - Bright and Beautiful

Creative Card Crew - Anything Goes

Crafty Creations - Use at Least 3 Punches and/or Dies (border punch, circle die and scalloped circle die)
Craft us Crazy - Autumn colors

Cute Card Thursday - A Pinch and a Punch (use a punch)
Delightful Challenges – Halloween

Desert Island Crafters - Pick 3 or more (kraft paper, embossing, sentiment, a bit of green and dimension)

Inspire Me Fridays: Anything Goes
Just Some Lines - Anything but a card

Paper Pretties Blog - Anything but a card
Secret Crafter - Autumn colors

Squiggle Stamps - Halloween

Stamp Something - Something Digi

Sweet Stamping - Anything but a card

Totally Papercrafts - Not a card
Wags and Whiskers - Anything but a card

Follow The Recipe - Challenge #18

At Catered Crop's "Follow The Recipe", our challenge theme is made up of the ingredients the designer of the winning card used in his/her creation, and this week we had two winners and you can see their winning cards here.

This is a really fun challenge to try...and I hope you will give it a go. We get to pick recipe ingredients used in the winning entry. With a choice of  two themes, I selected 'gardening' which led me to combine two Mo Manning digital images (The Big Guy Gardening and Potter's Bench) to create a perfect retirement card.

These are all of the ingredients were used in the winning cards, but the ones in red are what I used in my creation.

• Colors – primary colors like red, yellow, blue (and green), and a little brown for dirt
• Stamps and Stickers – anything that grows from a seed, gardening, back to school, worms!
• Patterns – circles, checked/gingham, notebook paper
• Color Mediums – stamping ink, markers (ProMarker, Copics)
• Embellishments – buttons, ribbon, thread/twine
• Tools – border punch, die cut shapes, embossing plates
• Techniques – make a bookmark, mat your panels, tie ribbons through your buttons, machine sewing (I did faux sewing)
• Theme – garden, back to school

Hope to see you at our "Follow The Recipe" challenge at Catered Crop.

I'm also entering this in these challenges...

Cute Card Thursday - Clean and simple

Ellephantastic - Layers

Craft Us Crazy - Anything Goes

Top Tip Tuesday - Straight Edges
AI Factory - Anything Goes
Crafty Ann's - Scallops and/or Fancy Borders
Crafty Sentiments - Punches & Dies
Totally Papercrafts - Food & Drink

Pick a Fold

You guys are all so terrific...   Thanks so much for coming to Peggy's Pity Party last week!  I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and under-creative. Nothing seemed to come together. I feel so much better now.. and I appreciate all of the nice comments so much.

'Lots going on this week. We have a new sassy gal that joins us as of this challenge and it's Sassy Pat.. so check out her blog and all of her creativity. You are guaranteed to have a bit of inspiration from your visit.

Miz Sassy Jeni (aka Flip Flop) gets to hostess Sassy Cheryl's challenge this week and her theme is a special fold -- meaning anything other than a tent-type fold.. so we need to get creative and put our thinking caps on, right??

I decided upon a side step card for Jeni's challenge using one of Sassy Cheryl's newest images... which just happens to be perfect for the 'back to school' crew.

I used copics to color the image and a very old apple stamp (from ??) that I cut out, some apple designer paper (Paper Studio) and a MS grass punch, then created a computer-generated sentiment in MSWord.  There's a few shadows in my photo... sorry 'bout that!

Wouldn't this be perfect for a grandma to send to her special grandson as school begins this Fall?

Thanks so much for stopping by my little corner of blogland. I hope you are doing well, and as always, I appreciate your comments. Be well, friends! I hope to see you at the challenge this week.

Something for Sophie

I haven't made a card for a challenge, other than my DT commitments, in quite some time.  I just learned that a former colleague of mine had a baby.. a little girl they named "Sophie"... so, I had to get busy to create a card that I could mail along with a little gift for them.

I created this very girly card for this new little cherub. This cute digital was a freebie from Meljen Designs that I picked up ages ago and have been saving for just the right occasion. And, this color combo is one of my all time favorites for little girls.

I'm entering this in these challenges.

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Some Stitching
Simon Says - Anything Goes
Do You Stack Up - Sewing - real or faux
Fuzzy Wuzzy - Punches and an animal

Paper Issue - Life is sweet (just a sweet card)

Moving Along With the Times - Use favorites (two of my favorite colors)

Thanks so much for stopping by, friends. I appreciate your comments. Ciao for now!

Duck Soup

Ah.. Duck Soup.. one of the movies starring the Marx Brothers.  I always wanted to own a restaurant, and I would have named it Duck Soup. I think the real meaning is 'a bit of this, a bit of that'. Maybe in my next lifetime!

I love days when I can kick back and relax and get some coloring and card-making underway. Since my head is entirely underwater with a nasty cold, what better way to spend the day than inside doing what I enjoy.  That's what my entire weekend was like and I got a chance to create several new things, including this little treasure using the duck stamp from Whipper Snapper. It certainly can do dual-duty as a friendship or thank you card. I never seem to have enough of those on hand.

I started with a base of copic markers and added some Prisma pencil highlights for more tone and definition. If you haven't tried this yet, just don't make the mistake of going back over the penciled work with a copic marker...guaranteed you will ruin the tip of your marker.

I'm in a challenge mood, so conjured up these sites to enter my card today...

AIFactory - Anything Goes

Aud Sentiments:Challenge - Love theme

BnW Challenge Blog: Anything But Winter

Bunny Zoe - Love is in the air

Craft Your Days Away - Love
Paper Cutz - Anything Goes
Stamp Something - Something Cute
Creative Craft World - Cute and Cuddly

Delicious Doodles - To cheer someone up

Digi Doodle Shops Best - Anything Goes

Freshly Brewed Blog - Spread Some Love

Penny's Paper-Crafty - Anything Goes

Fab N Funky - Animal Magic
Dutch Dare - Stitching (Real or Faux)

Thanks so much for stopping by, friends.. Have a fabulous day. Happy crafting to you!

Love Without the Frills

I'm still on the quest to create Valentine's Day cards for my son's Army unit -- with a goal of 75 cards, I've still got a bit to do to get these in the mail by the end of the week so they have time to mail them back to their sweeties.

So these have to be quick, clean and fairly easy. No bling, glitter, ribbons or anything too fussy.... the military isn't too fond of lumpy envelopes. I used this stamp from Designs Unlimited to create several cards using this image.  Even with a bit of copics coloring, they were fast to make and I love this no-fuss, tailored look. Here's just one version.

Clean, simple, elegant... that's my take at least.

I'm entering this in these challenges...

PIO - Anything Goes

AIFactory - Anything Goes

SSDS - Anything Goes

Pixie Cottage - Fave coloring method

Craft Your Days Away - Anything Goes

Simply Create - Use punches

2 Sisters - Flowers

Fairy-tale Challenge - Flowers

Copic Creations - Something New + Use Copics

Secret Crafter Saturday - With Love

Wags 'n Whiskers - With Love

Southern Girls - Totally Loved Up

Sassy Studio Design - Something old from your stash (stamp and sentiment)

Lexis Creations - Say it with Love

Bunny Zoe - Love is in the Air

Scrap Creations - Love is in the Air

Patties Creations - Anything Goes

Phindy's Place - Valentines or For a loved one

Stamp Something - Anything Goes (w/Stamps)

Thanks so much for stopping by, friends! Have a fantastic day.. I'll see you again tomorrow.

Clean and Simple Valentines

I've been putting together Valentine's Day cards to mail to my son's Army unit so they have special cards to mail to their loveys! And, this is just one of the styles I've created. I'll have more to share with you throughout the next few weeks.

Although they are all hand-colored, I kept the design very simple for mailing purposes. I'm entering this in these challenges today...

These Penny Black Hedgehogs are always so cute.

Aly's Sunday Challenge - Anything Goes

Catch The Bug - Embossing

CES - Creatures great and small

Craft Your Days Away - Anything Goes

Marks Finest Papers/Speedy's Friends - Embossing Folder

PaperTake Weekly- Anything Goes
Secret Crafter - Texture
Simple Doodles - Embossing
Southern Girls - Anything Goes

Tuesday Throwdown - Embossing

See you manana, friends! 'Til then, have a great day.. stay warm and be safe.

Sassy Fall Days

Hi friends.. it's time for our weekly challenge at Sassy Cheryl's. This is the second week where participants can enter the challenge and be considered for a four-week stint as a guest designer with us. I hope you will join us. You have until next Monday evening, November 8th, to enter.

Our sassy and very talented, Jeni is our hostess at the Sassy Cheryl challenge this week and her theme is Fall colors... all of Sassy Cheryl's images lend themselves to any color palette. But I love the simplicity of this card allowing this darling image to be the focal point.

Thanks so much for stopping by, friends. I'm hoping that you have a terrific day wherever you are in this great world. See you again later this week. Happy coloring!

Sassy, Furry Friends

Hi friends.... It's time for a new challenge at Sassy Cheryl's and our hostess this week is one of our newest DT members, talented Sassy Lily.  She set the challenge for us to create a card or paper project using one of Sassy Cheryl's furry friends.

I chose an image I haven't colored before -- Christmas Horn Bear from Cheryl's collection. I used soft colors for this addition to my Christmas card collection -- something other than traditional Christmas colors. This little, very cheerful guy was perfect.

I hope you will join us at our challenge. Cheryl always has a $5 gift certificate to one lucky participant and that might be you!

Thanks so much for stopping by friends. I'm sending best wishes your way for a special day. Until next time, be safe in all you do.

Happy Sassy Tuesday

Hi friends.. I hope you are enjoying a fantastic day of wonderful weather.

It's Sassy Cheryl's challenge day. My talented teammate, Sassy Tracy, created a challenge with paper piecing. I've been wanting to do something with this darling little guy "Snowman and the Moon" and this challenge seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

I enjoyed using some non-traditional Christmas colors and he's perfect for my growing Christmas card collection. You can find him and lots of his snow friends at Sassy Cheryl's shop.

Hope you will join us at Sassy Cheryl's challenge!

Thanks so much for stopping by...

Sassy Stuff!

Hi friends.. it's sassy time and that means a new challenge at Sassy Cheryl's.  This week we're working to this sketch created by our design team member, Cathy.

Using this Sassy Cheryl image "Absolutely No Girls", I did this very quick card using Copic markers. I'm always on the hunt for a masculine card...and this little skinny-legged guy is adorable. Nice 'stick's'... don't you agree?

Hope you will join us in our challenge this week. You might be the winner of a $5 gift certificate to Sassy Cheryl's shop.

Thanks so much for stopping by, friends... see you later this week.

Fall Blessings

Indian Summer is my favorite time of the year. How 'bout you?

When the summer temps are high and uncomfortable, I admit it: I pretty much fold like a cheap beach chair. But come Autumn, I feel refreshed and revived. It's definitely my time of the year. There's something about crisp leaves, cool days, apples, pumpkins, rosy cheeks, warm and wooly sweaters and delicious bowls of warm comfort food that brings me back from the nearly-dead.

With several challenges and Autumn in mind, I created this card using one of the digital images from artist Chris at Sketching Stamper that I resurrected from my digi stash. I colored this using Prismacolor pencils with Gamsol. The 'zen' takes over and I can color for hours with pencils.

Today's challenges...
Corrosive Challenge -Shake off the dust - unused image from my stash
Creative Craft World - Fall theme
Gingerloft Challenge  Halloween
Robyn's Fetish Challenge -Keep it simple
Opus Gluei - Easel card
Stamp It Crazy- recycle something (buttons from an old garment)
Dare U 2 Digi Stamp - shaped cards

Before I sign off.. if you love garlic and shrimp, check out this recipe at my food blog.. it's delish, very easy and so worth trying.

Ciao for now, friends!

It's Sassy Time!

Every Tuesday is Sassy Cheryl challenge day. My sassy teammate, Jodi, challenged us to create a card or project using one of the snow people from Sassy Cheryl's collection along with buttons, ribbon and sparkle!

I chose this little guy - one of Sassy Cheryl's newer creations... That's one helluva carrot nose he's got!

I colored him up with Copics, used liquid applique topped with chunky glitter...added some snowflakes to the background and front of the card and used ribbon and a button for accent.

I'm pretty close to having all of my Christmas cards completed.  WOWZA!!

Thanks so much for stopping by, friends. Have a terrific day and be safe in everything that you do.

Christmas Stampin'

Happy Friday, friends!

Our challenge this week at Christmas Stampin' All Year Long is sponsored by In Style Stamps. This is one from their digital collection, little Rudolph.

Hope you will play along with us at our challenge this week. One lucky person will win four images from In Style and there's a lot of cute images to pick from.

Thanks for stopping by, friends! Have a fantastic day....and a terrific weekend. Be safe in all you do.

More Mo

Hi friends... Thursdays are when we announce a new challenge at Mo's Digital Pencil. This month, I'm the lucky hostess and I picked this picture as inspiration for the team. 'Kind of bright and cheerful, don't you agree?

And here's my interpretation using "Dante's Drum" from Mo's Digital Pencil.

I colored the image with Lyra and Prismacolor pencils (my fav!!). These are my arsenal of choice for coloring ethnic images. That's a very modest attempt at a friendship bracelet using DMC floss and wound up with a simple braid. But it turned out okay for a bit of masculine trim on this card.

Hope you will join us at the challenge.
Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a fantastic day, friends... be safe in all you do.

Time to be Sassy

Hi friends.. this is a really short post today.. I'm swamped in various projects pulling me in a few directions. I think I need a vacation!

Cathy is our challenge hostess again this week at Sassy Cheryl's and this week it's a color challenge of black, pink and white. 

These little snow guys from Sassy Cheryl's are my favorites (gotta love those sexy twig legs!!) and I find myself using them a lot for our challenges. They make up the cutest cards and paper projects. (sorry for the crummy picture.. I'll try again tomorrow in a different setting)

Like the yo-yos? I just added some buttons to accent them a bit for the challenge. 

Come and join us at Sassy Cheryl's challenge. We have a $5 gift certificate to one lucky person that we pick randomly. Hope to see you there.

Have a fantastic day friends... see you later this week.

Isabella's Sketchbook

Hi everyone... are you having a terrific day?  Is it hotter than Haiti in your neck of the woods?  Whew.. the mid-West is being bombarded with temps well over 100 and a 'feels-like temp' at 108+.  That brings me to my knees and I fold like a cheap beach chair.

It's challenge time at Isabella's Sketchbook.. and I've created this card for our challenge of 'buttons and bows'... luscious strawberries! Sadly, the season for local strawberries has come to an end and it's back to the mass produced type. Bummer dudettes!

I'm getting some cards together for my Aunt, for her upcoming birthday...and I know she will enjoy this one to pass on to her friends. My image was colored with Prismacolor pencils.. the arsenal of choice in my craft grotto.

Hope you can join us at Isabella's challenge this week - you might be the lucky winner of some of her darling digital images... Please check out the work of our design team. The inspiration is amazing.

Have a fantastic day.. and stay cool!