Kaylee is 5 *Sigh*

I meant to post this yesterday for International Talk Like A Pirate Day! For Kaylee's 5th Birthday party she chose a pirate theme party. We invited 7 other children (for a total of 9) all under 6, and had 9 adults too. Just as an interesting side fact 3 of the children were triplets, so that upped our numbers significantly, lol.

I used a Silhouette file to create a treasure map invitation. I first cut it out of black patterned paper for the backing and then a beige patterned paper for the front. I ran the front through my printer to add the invite/text and then used my Xyron to glue them together. The back then showed white, so I used Tim Holtz distress ink in Walnut Stain to give it that aged look. Rolled it up and tied it with twine. The bottle, now that was a story. I went to 3 dollar stores (every one in our city) to find colored bottles with a cork in them. There were none. Then I thought maybe the small coke bottles would work but the labels were printed right on the bottles. While in the bottled drinks aisle I spotted the Perrier bottled water bottles. Green, flat bottom, removable label, and screw top. PERFECT! And they were $3.49 for 4, cheaper than I would have paid at a dollar store. PERFECT!

I used a Silhouette cut file to make the cupcake wraps which I cut out of kraft paper and the sails which were cut out of white cardstock. A cocktail toothpick doubled as a flagged mast. We made 24 chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing. We had 2 left at the end of the party. Almost all of the kids had 2 each, lol. Always a good sign that they were tasty.

 The Armada ;o)

We took 3 cardboard boxes and covered them in mirror tape found at the dollar store in the hardware section. We found little treasure chest cases at a craft wholesaler and filled them with chocolate loonies and toonies and jelly beans. Then we put 3 little chests into each box. I taped the boxes shut with black hockey tape to look like the straps on the chest. Then we buried them in the yard. My mother-in-law drew up 3 maps. My husband used sticks in the shape of an X to mark the spots. The kids absolutely loved digging for buried treasure!

We also bought pirate hats, parrot decorations and a palm tree scene at the craft wholesale warehouse. The pirate swords were from a dollar store. We set up a photo corner and took Kaylee's picture on 'the island' with all of her guests as they came in.

My lessons learned: we should have taped the little chests shut because by the time the kids were done digging up and ripping open the big treasure boxes the little ones had some dirt in them. Luckily kids under 6 aren't bothered by treats with dirt on them. Also the palm tree decorations were just plastic and not wall clings like we thought they were so they didn't look very good on the wall and we had to figure out a way to get them to stay up there. Wouldn't buy those again next time but they did the job for the day.

I would like to share at:

Dream Valley Challenges celebrations, closes Sept. 30

My Anniversary

It was our 12th Wedding Anniversary this week. The husband handed me a store bought card and says, "where's mine? The homemade one.". So that's what I did. He has a point though, that for me anyways, it's the people I'm closest to that are the last to get one of my cards. I'm so busy making them for everyone outside of the house that the people inside the house rarely get one.
I bought the Moon Love digi stamp from Karber Stamps. And I followed the sketch at Sketchy Colors. I loved all the layers to it, even though that is one of my phobias. But my goal is to use more patterned papers and I love the way it turned out. I printed my image right onto my blue patterned paper. Same with my sentiment. Kraft cardstock is my card base. And the husband was very pleased to have a card of his own, and he deserves one. He really is a wonderful man.

I would like to share my card at:

My Sheri Crafts family, closes Sept. 29,

The Crazy Challenge spots or stripes, closes Sept. 30

My Brother's Birthday

I made this card for my brother who recently started his own home construction business. That is a business that is really booming in our province and in our city. And he's been very busy. I used a Kenny K digi stamp called Home Improvement for the front cover. Inside I used Bugaboo Stamps Stella Nursing ICU. I imported both into my Silhouette and used the print and cut feature to cut them out. I colored them using my Prismacolor pencils and CASE'd Amy's coloring from the Krafty Girlz Embossing Challenge for my Home Improvement image. On my Stella image I added some Glossy Accents to her glasses and name tag. I also tried using my Versamarker Watermark Pen for blending. The Yield sign was a diamond Silhouette shape that I used the knife tool to cut in half. And then the offset feature to make the border. The stop sign was another Silhoeutte image. The banner and bandaids were also Silhouette shapes which I added my sentiments to and then used the print and cut feature again. Used pop dots to lift my images off the pages. Added a little safety pin embellie on the front.
My lessons learned: a Versamark Watermark Pen will blend your colored pencils. However, it takes forever to dry. I learned the hard way that putting my hand or fingers onto the wet coloring would then transfer it onto my uncolored parts.
My cover sentiment reads: Every good handyman needs a good handy helper!
Inside sentiment: My name is Stella and I'll be your handy helper today!

I would like to share my card at:

Scrap-Creations humor, closes Sept. 11,

The Hybrid Chick pop it up, closes Sept. 14,

Sentimental Sundays humor me, closes Sept.16, **Top 3!!!**

Creative Craft Challenges all about the guys, closes Sept. 18,

Hooked On Craft Challenges cards for men, closes Sept. 29,

By The Cute And Girly boys/men, closes Sept. 30



Winged Things

The challenge this fortnight at The Poodles Parlour is winged things. I'd like to start by sharing some photos with you of a few of the "winged things" around here. I am extremely blessed to be able to step out my front door and take these photos. I just have a regular Kodak digital camera but my photos have won prizes at our City Exhibition/Fair. I thought you might be interested in seeing a few too.

This picture is of our Canadian Armed Forces Snowbirds. They are a demonstration flight team and their Base is just outside of Moose Jaw. Coincidentally so are we. We get frequent "air shows"!

Sorry about the picture heavy post, I do hope you enjoyed them! This brings me to my card. I have been feeling like I have been stuck in a rut lately. I know my scrapbooking mojo is MIA and I've been feeling like all I use on my cards lately are primary colors. Now I get that I have an almost 5 year old and a 2 year old so primary colors are the stage we're at...but I see so many beautiful cards out there done with muted colors and stains and I've been so wanting to do something like that. Then I chose a lovely ladybug image from The Digi Garden (one of our sponsors) and well you know what they say about the best laid plans :o)

The frame for my digi is a Silhouette image. I imported my digi into my Silhouette and placed it so that the ladybug antennae stuck out the top. Then I used the print and cut feature to print my image. I selected the 'cut edge' setting to cut them out. The banner is an Echo Park Country Drive Silhouette image. I filled the background with the black and white polka dot pattern and then used the advanced fill settings to adjust the pattern scale. The writing seemed lost on the busy background so I upped the line thickness in the line style settings. The ladybug is an Echo Park Silhouette image that I put together and colored in using the Fill Color and Line Color settings. I also had to adjust the line thickness for some of its parts too so that they would show up when I resized it to teeny tiny. I used the print and cut feature for my banner. I colored my image using PrismaColor pencils. Her face is paper pieced because I first tried to color it using my Copic E11. I desperately need 2 skin colored Copics for that to work. Highlights with a white gel pen and some faux stitching finish off my frame. Flowers and a sheer black ribbon bow round out my embellishments. I used red Stickles to trim out the bow. Ask me how much fun that was?!? Pretty messy really, especially waiting for it to dry.

Thank-you so much for stopping by and though I know it was a long post today there are lots of rewards. Our Winged Things challenge has 2 sponsors, Di's Digi Downloads and The Digi Garden. And you can link up 3 creations for 3 chances to win! I look forward to visiting you all!

I would like to share my card at:

Divas By Design anything goes, closes Aug. 29,

Word Art Wednesday encouraging/uplifting sentiment, closes Aug. 29,

Mema's Crafts anything goes with a twist of red, closes Aug. 31,

Paper Playtime polka dots + a sentiment, closes Aug. 31,

Polka Doodles stitching real or faux, closes Sept. 2,

Stamp And Create stitch it up, closes Sept. 2,

Crafting For All Seasons stitching real or faux, closes Sept. 5,

Clearly iStamp circles, closes Sept. 6,

Little Fishes

The little girls are taking swimming lessons. I made this thank-you card for their swim instructor. My oldest went down the big water slide all by herself and made lots of new friends. Unfortunately neither of those things are on her swimming report card ;o) She still passed even though she doesn't like to put her face in the water. The little one likes to do everything herself. They were to stand on the edge and Daddy was to water her, she was to grow like a tree, Daddy was to chop her down and then she was to jump in. She watered herself, grew tall, then chopped herself down and jumped in, too funny.
I used a Bugaboo image and followed the sketch from their Stella Says Sketch Challenge. The mesh style netting/ribbon, fish and flourishes are die cut Silhouette images cut from blue sparkle paper. I used a Silhouette image as my frame too. I colored the frame yellow in the Silhouette program and then used the print and cut feature so that my frame and image are all one. I used pop dots to lift my image up off the page. The fishy dp is from Michael's. Half pearls make the fish bubbles ;o)

I also thought I'd put in a layout page. I won't tell you how far behind I am in my scrapbooking, but I think you can tell I'm looking a lot younger than I am now. I have fallen even farther behind now that I've been card making. This page was of my nephew's 1st birthday party. The swingset and sun are both Silhouette diecuts. The photos were cut with my Coluzzle circle cutter.

Our challenge at The Poodles Parlour this fortnight is die cuts. We have 2 sponsors. The super cutie The Digi Garden images and Di's Digis. Lots of ways to win, please join us. And I look forward to seeing your entries. Please stop by and see all of my teamies inspiring creations too!
I would like to share my card at:
Monica's Creative Madness pool party, closes Aug. 16

It Was +40 Degrees Celcius Here Last Week (+104F)

Since I did a post in January about the temperature being -45C I felt it only fair to let you all know that we also get very hot here too! It was +34C (+93F) one day last week and it felt more like +40C (+104F) with the humidex.
We took the little girls in to a friend's house to go swimming in their above ground pool. I thought it would be a good dry (wet) run before they started their swimming lessons later this summer. They really had fun and she brought out snacks and treats for them afterwards too. They don't have kids but they do have a VERY active dog that thinks he's still a puppy. He will run off with anything that is not up high enough, chewed on one of the girls towels, and will eat food you're eating right out of your hand whether you are done with it or not, lol. My friend says he has very bad manners around company but that it is good for him to be around little ones. His name is Cooper and he is a Golden/Yellow Lab. So naturally he had to be in the thank-you card! I found this doggie digi at Mo's Digital Pencil Too. The little Wryn Beach Babe digis are from Tiddly Inks. I imported them all into my Silhouette and then replicated one of the Wryn's, flipped her horizontally and resized her smaller. Now I have my Kaylee and my Abby. Placed Cooper at the bottom. Then printed them out on the printer. The pool was a Silhouette file that I cut out of colors to match our friends'. The sentiment was written in white gel pen. I colored my digis and my scene using Prismacolor pencils. To create the grass I used my green Zig marker to make all the grass strokes and then my pencils to color it in. For the sky I used my Frost Blue Copic on the top and some darker pencils on the bottom. Used pencils to shade the clouds. It was cloudy the day we went, which was good because it had been very hot, too hot, earlier in the week. I tried to match the colors for the girls' suits to what they wore that day too. I love my little scene and think it turned out very, very nicely.
My lessons learned: I tried again to blend my pencils using baby oil and again it caused my image lines to run/bleed black onto my yellow dog. I tried to heat set my images, still ran. I tried watercolor paper, still ran. I printed my images out a third time and gave up trying to use baby oil for blending. My Copics (and I only have 2) did help blend the lines a bit, especially on the sky. Otherwise I just used circles when coloring different shades and I think everything blends quite well.

The Originals with Daddy

The Replicas with Cooper ;o)

I would like to share my card at:

Great Impressions your best coloring, closes July 31,

Mo's Challenge Blog in the doghouse, closes August 2,

Pause Dream Enjoy Challenges sports and hobbies (swimming), closes August 2,

Polka Doodle summer, closes August 3,

Dream Valley Challenges summer, closes August 4,

Creative Mondays water, closes August 5,

Creative Craft Challenge summertime, closes August 7

A Play Date Thank-You

The little girls and I went to a neighbor's farm Saturday morning for a play date with their granddaughters. I wasn't sure how the big girls (ages 11 and 9) would enjoy playing with the little girls (4 and 2). But they had the most wonderful time. The big girls took such good care of them. And the little girls were so good. This is a thank-you card for the neighbors for inviting us up to play. I'm also taking them some fresh beans from the garden.
I used a Silhouette card file to make my shaped card. Some ribbon and a BoBunny brad are really the only embellishments.



I would like to share my card at:
The Play Date Cafe color challenge, closes August 1

Sapphire Anniversary

Did you know that the 45th Wedding Anniversary was the Sapphire Anniversary? For my parents 45th I couldn't decide between a funny card or a sentimental so I went with both. Our challenge this fortnight at The Poodles Parlour is Anything Goes (and you can link up 3 entries). And because we are sponsored by Bugaboo Stamps (who are having a 50% off sale for all of July) and The Digi Garden (who have just added new digis to the store) I predict we will have a lot of entries for this one!

I used Stella and Gus from Bugaboo Stamps for my image. The sentiment is also from Bugaboo but comes with a different Stella and Gus image. I colored them using Prismacolor pencils. For the record, my mom has never worn a Cheetah print dress, I just thought it might be fun to try and turn Stella's dots into spots. I also put some red Stickles on the heart and some Glossy Accents on their glasses. The fence is a Silhouette file as are the Irises. The Blue Iris is the flower that symbolizes the 45th Anniversary. There's the sentimental part of the card. The grass was cut from grass dp with a pair of decorative scissors. The gate handle I drew on myself. The stitching around the sentiment is supposed to look like x's and o's. The 4 and 5 are Thickers.

I would like to share my card at:

Come and Get It Challenges bingo (die cuts, free, glitter), closes July 27,

Paper and Such stitching, real or faux, closes July 31,

Crafts and Me Challenges anything goes, closes Aug. 1,

Fresh Brewed Designs photo inspiration, closes Aug. 1,

Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge wedding/anniversary, closes Aug. 1

Cupcake Party Favor

I made these as a thank-you for coming to my party gift from one of my little girls. The heart cupcake wrapper is a Silhouette file cut out of white cardstock. Wrap gumballs in plastic wrap and place in a regular cupcake liner. Then put the whole thing into your cupcake wrapper. I put a toothpick into a big red gumball and inserted the toothpick right through the plastic to create the cherry on top. They make such a colorful little giveaway!
My lessons learned: you need something to contain your gumballs while you are putting them into the plastic wrap or they roll all over before you can gather the sides of your wrap. A small cup or even a firm cupcake wrapper will do.

I would like to share my project at:
Sundays Are Lovely linky party, closes August 1,
Monica's Creative Madness cupcake project, closes August 2

Late To The Dance

Well, the good news is my computer is back up and running, oh how I missed my Silhouette and digi files *cheers*. The bad news is I'm late with my DT card for this fortnight's challenge at The Poodles Parlour *shame*. Feels a little like when you stay up late in High School to finish a project due the next day *guilt*. But here we are. The challenge is to use a digi stamp *easy*. We are sponsored by Wonderstrange, which are very appropriately named, and The Digi Garden, who have updated their site and it looks fabulous! Please play along, link up to 3 times, and I look forward to visiting!
I imported Macy and Izzy from the Digi Garden into my Silhouette program. They look so much like my girls *cute*. I resized Izzy and then used the print and cut feature to print and cut them out. Paper pieced the girls and used purple and pink glitter gel pens to add the sparkly highlights. The Grad card giftcard holder is a Silhouette file, cut out in my nephew's school colors (red and black). He graduated from Grade 8 in June. The "Just For You" tag was also a Silhouette file. I used the delete points feature to take the tag part off of the image and used the offset feature to make the background circle. All that's left to do is to insert the giftcard.
My lessons learned: when your less than 4 year-old HP computer quits turning on because the switch is gone and you find out HP no longer carries the part because your computer was deemed "end of life" 6 months ago and it takes over a month to get the part from Heaven only knows where (I'm guessing/hoping eBay) and it costs just as much to fix as buying a new computer you had better make sure you have enough gel in your purple glitter gel pen to finish the accents on your image because your card is already late and you don't have enough time to remake all the paper piecing you've already done. I know there was not enough punctuation there, but I was ranting, so I didn't really need any ;o)

I would like to share my card at:

Tammy's Scrapin Corner anything goes, closes July 15,

Cameo Creations anything goes, closes July 21,

Creative Stamp Friends paper piecing, closes July 22

Sponge Bombs

These are so awesome. Of course I found them on Pinterest. And when I found out my nephew was having a water fight down at my parents farm for his 7th birthday party, I knew I had to make these as his present.
I got all of my supplies at a dollar store (where everything is $1.25 now): Carwash style sponges, J cloths and zip ties. You can use several other styles of sponges too and I did, but I liked these ones the best.

Start by cutting your car wash sponges into 1/3rds.

Cut a J cloth into strips the same length and width as your sponges.

Get your zip tie handy. Then start to gather your sponges and cloths, pinching them together as you go. This will give you an idea of how they will look when tied together.

Tie around the middle with a zip tie. Tighten as tight as it will go. Don't go too tightly though or it is possible to rip your sponges.

Snip the zip tie close to the center. Then flouf. Just move the pieces around to fill any gaps.

We bought a plastic tub with handles at Wal-Mart. Filled it with Sponge Bombs and then your tub can be filled with water for your water fight.

Total cost per bomb: 1.46

Zip Tie - .04

Sponges - 1.25

J Cloth (1 cloth will make at least 2 bombs) - .17

Tub $5 at Wal-Mart

They did not all survive the fight though. 7 year-old boys are not known for 'gently' water fighting and our Border Collie kept trying to 'fetch' them too. But there were still some intact at the end of the battle.

These would be great for any summer family gathering!

Happy Canada Day

It's Canada Day! I am so proud to be Canadian, I think we do a lot of things right and that we don't celebrate it often enough, because we're Canadian, that's just not like us. But on Canada Day we really let our pride shine through and you'll see the Maple Leaf flying everywhere today. So what better day to celebrate my 1 Year Blogaversary!
It has been an amazing year full of fun and learning for me. Every new follower and every comment makes my heart smile. I am just so grateful to you all. 
Thank-you so much for joining in the fun!

Graduation

The little girls Sunday School Teacher is graduating from Grade 12 and going on to University in the Fall. I made this card as a thank-you to her from the little girls.
The challenge this fortnight at The Poodles Parlour is cute and cuddly. And the sponsors are Milk n' Coffee and The Digi Garden. So many great ways to win, and you can enter up to 3 times too!
I used a Milk n' Coffee sponsor image, Charlotte at Paper Ship, and colored her using my Prismacolor pencils. I colored her dress with a black opaque marker, I wanted it to look like a shiny Grad gown. Stickles on the flowers and butterfly and glossy accents on the water added the finishing touches. I used my B00 Frost Blue Copic to add the blue dots around the image. I used my Coluzzle circle for the image and the mat (still without access to my Silhouette, had to go old school, lol). I saw a side easel card and really liked the look so I googled the term and found this YouTube tutorial. I made mine 5 1/2" x 11". Then scored it at 5 1/2" so that mine was just a square. My dp's were cut to 5 1/4" x 5 1/4" and then I just cut the rose paper in half from corner to corner for my upper triangle. For my sentiment, I found a grad cap image and printed it out with my sentiment on it. I then hand cut (gasp) it out. I popped it up on pop dots to use it as my stopper on the bottom. Added ribbon, flowers and gems to finish it off.
My sentiment reads:
When you pass through the waters I will be with you
Isaiah 43:2
I thought it really suited not only my image but a Graduation card too.
My lessons learned: My opaque markers also wet my plain cardstock and pill it.
I look forward to seeing your creations!

I would like to share my card at:

The Crafty Pad more than one fold, closes July 1,

Word Art Wednesday inspirational quote, closes July 4,

Delightful Challenges celebrations, closes July 5,

Fussy and Fancy Challenge fancy fold, closes July 12,

Little Miss Muffet sparkle, closes July 12

Sk8er

This is for my nephew's birthday. He turns 7 on July 2nd. Canada Day is July 1st. So the challenge theme at The Poodles Parlour this fortnight of red, white and blue was pretty perfect for his birthday card. The image is Skateboarder from The Digi Garden. They are the sponsor for this challenge and have such lovely images! Not to mention you have so many ways to win. There is a sponsor prizes, prizes for the top 3 and prizes for our honorable mention "Poodle Picks" as well! I look forward to seeing your cards!
I have been without my computer for going on 3 weeks. I have access to the Internet through The Husband's work laptop but am without my digi files and *GASP* my Silhouette. So I had to get a little creative with this one, but isn't that what we crafter's do best, lol?!?
I followed the sketch at the Stella Says Sketch Challenge. I used my Prismacolor pencils on my image and bought some blending stumps at Michael's. A little baby oil for blending and voila! LOVE the way it turned out. Also used my Frost Blue Copic B00 to outline my image. My sentiment in hand written. Not something you see very often but The Husband's work laptop is not connected to our printer. The maple leaves were added using my parent's printer. Thank goodness they live nearby. I also used their printer to print my digi image. Cute little colored safety pin makes the perfect embellishment for a boy's card.
My lessons learned:
I was very afraid that the baby oil would tear my cardstock. I just used regular white cardstock. However, it held together perfectly and as a side bonus my card smells pretty great too ;o)

I would like to share my card at:

Scrapper's Delights it's a male thing, closes June 16,

Stampin' Sisters In Christ use an image showing action, closes June 17,

Stella Says Sketch Challenge sketch, closes June 17,

Cupcake Craft Challenges red, white and blue, closes June 18,

Sassy Cheryl's birthday, closes June 18,

The Pink Elephant masculine, closes June 18,

Aud Sentiments any sentiment for a child's birthday, closes June 19,

Charisma Cardz male cards, closes June 19,

Creative Card Crew song inspired (Sk8er Boi), closes June 19,

Little Red Wagon boys birthday, closes June 20,

Paper Craft Journey hand colored image, closes June 20

Shopping

Saw this sentiment and knew it was PERFECT for my Mom. She is a quilter. And just like we paper crafters have more paper than we can ever use in a lifetime, she has enough fabric to make enough quilts to rival an enitre Amish community. But she still buys fabric. Just like I still buy paper. This card was for Mom's birthday.
I used the sketch at the Stella Says Sketch challenge. And used Dottie Shops from the Bugaboo Stamps Store. Colored using Prismacolor pencils and Glossy Accents on her jewellry and bow. I also used Tim Holtz distress inks in Spun Sugar to ink round my image. The jewels are Jolee's Swarovski Elements.  Thought the wood look patterned paper really suited the sentiment. I was in the other room cutting the cake and I knew as soon as my Mom opened her card, she was laughing so hard.

Sentiment: Shopping with your Husband is like Hunting with the Game Warden :o)

I would like to share my card at:
Catch the Bug Challenge Stella Says Sketch, closes June 2,
Digital Tuesday Challenge just for laughs, closes June 5,  **Winner!!!**

Father's Day

This one is for my Dad. If you knew my Dad, you would understand the band-aids ;o) We phone him for help on every project and as our closest neighbor we are extremely lucky to have him 'on call'. He is very handy, they built their own house, so he's a great neighbor to have. But everytime he and the Husband do a project, one of them bleeds. They usually take turns, but someone always gets a minor injury.
This is also my DT card for The Poodles Parlour Father's Day Challenge. We are sponsored this challenge by Kenny K. And generously sponsored for every challenge by The Digi Garden. So many chances to win! Love it!
I printed and cut the image using my Silhouette. I then printed 3 more copies. They are colored using PrismaColor pencils, although I did color most of my bottom layer with a dark gray marker so you wouldn't see the white as I was layering. I then cut out my layered pieces. Using the back of my 1/32 plastic tsp. I rubbed the back of my pieces adding the dimension to them. I then used small foam pop dots cut to size to layer my pieces on top of my base image. I also colored some of the foam dots with my gray marker as well. Just the ones on the small pieces that you may be able to see from the side. The band-aids are a Silhouette image that I used the sketch pen feature to draw on my pink cardstock, cut them out, and then ran through my printer to add the sentiments.
My lessons learned: I really prefer the pop dots to silicone glue. They are so much neater and cleaner and still hold the shape up very well. I think as I get braver I may even layer more pieces but I wanted to start fairly simply.
I look forward to seeing your Father's Day creations!

I would like to share my card at:

Simon Says Stamp and Show one for the boys, closes June 4,

Tuesday Throwdown make it masculine, closes June 5,

Paper Play Challenges 2 of something (band-aids), closes June 6,

Here Come the Boys anything goes, closes June 10,

Crafting for all Seasons many layers, closes June 13,





Whew

My Matron Of Honor just graduated from the Saskatchewan Police College on May 25th. She did things like getting pepper sprayed, driving and shot gun training. So I thought she deserved a very special Graduation card.
I've never made a side step card before. I had a cut file for one that I imported into my Silhouette. However once I got it cut I discovered that the left side/front panel was only 2". Well that would make for a very small image. So I did some tinkering in the Silhouette program and made it 3 1/4". Much better. I used Frantic Graduate digi stamp from Sassy Cheryl's Digis. I colored her using Prismacolor pencils. I'm getting better. I've done a lot of browsing around Google images of colored digi stamps. I haven't tried blending yet but my shading is getting better. I drew some more grass at the bottom. Then I used my Silhouette to create a mask for my image and some clouds. I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Pine Needles and Broken China to do the sky and grass backgrounds. I've never 'masked' before. It was tricky because I wasn't sure how to tape my small clouds down without covering the clouds. I did it by working in sections and moving the tape. Really like the look.
For my sentiment I used MachineScript font and adjusted the character spacing until all the letters were touching. Then I used the weld button under the modify tab to join them all together. I used the offset button to create the mat. The Police hat was a Silhouette image. The badge I downloaded from the Internet from the Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada. I sure hope that's not illegal ;o) The accents are fabric covered, striped brads.

My lessons learned: I used my B00 Copic to outline my image AFTER I did my masking/inking. That worked really well because my mask was just a bit larger than my image so my inking did not go right to the edges of my image. The outline filled that space really well. This was a lot of work to put together, took the whole day, but soooo worth it. I really like the way it turned out, especially my coloring.

I'd like to share my card at:

Paper Pretties graduation, closes May 22,

Moving Along with the Times keep it real, closes May 23,

4 Crafty Chicks graduation, closes May 23,

Stampin' Sisters in Christ build up your card/layers, closes May 27,

My Craft Spot congratulations, closes May 28,

Sassy Cheryl's favorite color combination (blue & white), closes May 28,

The Crazy Challenge 3D, closes May 28,

Tuesday Throwdown 3D, closes May 29,

Papertake Weekly national colors (red & white), closes May 29,

Creative Card Crew dimension, closes June 3

My First 3D Project

This is for my Mom. I used a Silhouette cut file called card kit flower pot. I have seen lots of inspiration for these around Blogland and thought I'd give it a try. The flower pot I cut out of Kraft paper. The inside and leaves I cut out of green cardstock. Then I cut another inside out of beige, ran it through the printer to add the sentiment, and then just cut the leaves off and adhered it on top of the green. I cut some more leaves by hand from lime green cardstock. I used my Prismacolor pencils to add some color to the leaves. I used used the back of my plastic 1/32 tsp. on a soft pad to curl the leaves. Then I used Elmer's Silicone Rubber Sealant in behind. My Mom's favorite flowers are pansies, so rather than use the flowers that came with the kit cut file I used Silhouette pansy cut files in 2 different styles. I used my 1/32 tsp. again to bow the petals and silicone glue to adhere them right on top of the leaves. Some ribbon and a bow finish the pot.
My lessons learned: The silicone glue takes a long time to dry, can be messy, and has a pretty strong smell. I will try this again, but I will try using popdots, thin ones. Also, all the little black veins in the pansies were very difficult to glue on. I could have drawn them on with a black marker and saved myself some tweezer work, lol.
Wishing all Moms a very Happy Mother's Day!!!

Took advantage of some natural sunlight and a clean carpet to take my pictures today, neither one is ever a guarantee around here, but today we had both ;o)

I would like to share my card at:
Paper Sundaes Mother's Day, closes May 12,
Love to Create For Mom, closes May 13,
The Paper Variety May flowers, closes May 13,
Kaboodle Doodles Honoring Mothers, closes May 14,
Paper Pretties use ribbon, closes May 14,
The Pink Elephant Challenge all about Mom, closes May 14,
Crafting For All Seasons handmade flowers, closes May 15,
The Squirrel and The Fox one for the girls, closes May 15,
The Sisterhood of Crafters May flowers, closes May 20,
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge I love you Mom, closes May 23

Mother-In-Law Mother's Day

I used these 2 cutie images from The Digi Garden. They represent The Husband and his sister. I imported them into my Silhouette and used the object, arrange, and send to back button to place her arm behind him so they look as though she has her arm around him. Awwww. I used the Headline News font for the sentiment. Printed my images and sentiment onto white cardstock. Colored my images with my E11 copic and Prismacolor pencils. I paper pieced his hat, pocket and patch using red cardstock. The flower and leaves are Silhouette images. I used a button and some twinery twine for the flower center. The stitching is done by swapping my Silhouette blade for a pink glitter sketch pen. Then I made a rectangle. I changed the line style to dashed, hit cut and easy peasy stitched looking line, in pink, too cool. I will definitely use this technique again.
My lessons learned: My first attempt at coloring up my image looked like I did it on a bus. So I reprinted my image and tried again. I have got to get real markers...and real paper. My white cardstock just isn't cutting it for my digi images. Thank goodness for paper piecing. I feel so out of my league with Copics, I'm seriously considering the Tim Holtz markers. Anyone have any experience with them?

I'd like to share my card at:

My Sheri Crafts Mother's Day card with flowers, closes May 11,

Bugaboo Stamps anything goes, closes May 12,

Paper Sundaes Mother's Day, closes May 12,

Love to Create for Mom, closes May 13,

Oldie But A Goodie dies and punches, closes May 14,

Sassy Cheryl's stitching, faux or real, closes May 14,

The Squirrel and the Fox one for the girls, closes May 15,

From The Little Girls

I think this may be one of my favorites. This was for The Husband's birthday. I used an image from Tiddly Inks called Daddy's Girl. I imported it into my Silhouette and replicated it. Then flipped the second one horizontally and resized it smaller. I used the font Fiolex Girls and added the sentiment. I then printed both image and sentiment right out onto my card. I used Marvy Opaque Stix to add the color. I love the way they dried to an almost painted look!

My lessons learned (tip): When running your card through the printer, put the natural curve of your card up. I placed it down and it kept getting caught in the printer because it created this little bow in the paper that would not feed flat through the printer. It seemed so opposite of what I should be doing to put that curve up, but that was the only way it worked. Go figure.

I would like to share my card at:

Simon Says birthday, closes May 9,

CAS-ual Fridays clean and simple birthday, closes May 10,

Come and Get it Challenges for the boys, closes May 11,

Top Tip Tuesday clean and simple, closes May 21