NEWSPAPER FLOWER / CQC #48 & CPS #182...

It's Tuesday - you know what that means!!! Another colourQ challenge...

I combined today's colourQ with the simple sketch over at Card Positioning Systems.

Maisie has just started screaming her head off... so I better go! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Okay, I'm back... I made this flower from newspaper. I die cut 4 layers of newspaper in 3 sizes of the flower nestability, crumpled them & spread them back out, adhered them with a Stampin' Up! Build-a-Brad, and then used a tole painting brush to add the colors.

Maisie is still trying to get her next two teeth in... and Alex started preschool today! Here's a glimpse of them 'playing'...

See you tomorrow!

BIRTHDAY CUPCAKES / SCIC #17 & TESC #126...

Here's a quick card I made last night - I just now have time t post it! Gotta love cupcakes!

This card is for the inspiration challenge over at Stampin' Celebration! I finally made the deadline - lol! I used Taylor's cute sketch, too!

This was a super easy card, mostly made from patterned paper and a Martha Stewart punch.

Bye for now!

CUPCAKE MOUSE / TPE #82, USSIS #70 & MelJen #22...

Happy Monday! Time for another Pink Elephant challenge... and today it's W-H-I-T-E!

We're concentrating on using a lot of white. I combined my card with two other challenges, MelJen's birthday theme - who happens to also be sponsoring this week's Pink Elephant Challenge, and Unscripted Sketches... which I'm late with!

These days I feel like I'm running behind - but I have an awesome excuse! I was super busy this weekend helping out a great friend with something exciting, which I'll be talking about later this week!

See you soon!

ELEGANT PICNIC / PTI August Blog Hop...

Good evening! This months PTI blog hop is all about brown paper bags! After thinking for days, and days, and days - I finally had a glimmer of inspiration at the VERY last minute...

I have a huge box of bags in the garage, and of course I started my "picnic plasticware catty" project on the most lopsided one I could find - lol! I used the Damask set to stamp the bottom of the bag with Tuxedo Black Momento. I used the Ric Rac die to cut the top flaps. And I finished of my ribbon and flap with PTI buttons!

Have a great night & thanks for stopping by!

MAISIE LOLLIPOP / C&C #3...

That's right ~ I've been SPOTTED... playin' with a bunch of Lollipops!

See this little cutie? I guess by reading the title of this post, you've already surmised that this is Maisie Lollipop - coincidence? I think NOT! I recently became friends with "the" Lori Boyd (inside joke)... she's just the sweetest gal - with an overflowing spirit and tons o' talent to boot! I just fell in love with her sweet little digis, sold over at Claudia & Co.! And she made one of my Maisie! When I showed it to Alex, he said "CUUUTE"!

It's late, so I'll have to finish this post up in the AM -

bye for now...

AVIARY [U R TWEET] / CQC #47, 2S4Y #59 & MFWTT...

When I picked these colors for the colourQ a few weeks ago, it didn't think they'd be a big hit - but I LOVED them... imagine my surprise to see similar colors as the Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World - lol!

So today's card is a triple combo! I paired the 2 challenges above with the sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You. The colors of the Trigger seemed funky & fresh & the room in has such a giant view... like you're sitting in a swanky bird cage looking out at the world! Both were a perfect match for the theme & colors of my colourQ card!

I knew I wanted to use these super sweet bird cages for these colors. I am a bird person. I have always had birds, always been on the lookout for antique bird cages, birds are just the best! I love that they are so "IN" right now! I'm definitely not finished playing with this set!

Bye for now!

CARDSTOCK: Stampin' Up! - Poppy Parade, More Mustard, Bermuda Bay and Basic Gray

PAPERS - October Afternoon

STAMPS: Stampin' Up! - Aviary

ACCESSORIES: Stampin' Up! - Bermuda Bay dotted ribbon & More Mustard button, Basic Grey - grey rhinestones

TOOLS: Stampin' Up! - scallop border punch, corner rounder punch, jewelry tag punch, paper piercer

TIRE SWING / TPE #81...

Time for a new Pink Elephant Challenge! The weekend went by too fast, but it was a good one!

Our sponsor for today's challenge is Inktegrity, digital stamps designed by TPE's own Joni Wilson! Once I saw this cute image called "Tire Swing", I just had to have it! I never have enough boy cards, so this is perfect! I hope you get to play along with us this week!

Here a couple pics of the kids... if you look really close, you can see Maisie's little bottom tooth that came in last week! She has 2 more cutting through this week!

After getting all of his stuffed animals lined up behind the foyer table, Alex joined them for some serious coloring. He has just recently started enjoying it, and will sit still for over an hour coloring the same piece of paper! My little artist! Later he started sticking the crayons in the dinosaur's mouth!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Hope you have a wonderful week ahead of you!

Bye for now~

CARDSTOCK: Stampin' Up! - Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Wild Wasabi, and Pear Pizzazz

PAPERS - Stampin' Up! - Pear Pizzazz

STAMPS: Inktegrity - Tire Swing digi

ACCESSORIES: Stampin' Up! - Wild Wasabi ribbon (retired), Copper brads & clip

TOOLS: Cuttlebug - Swirls EF, Stampin' Up! - Square Lattice EF

LACIE LOLLIPOP / USSIS #69 & TPE How-to...

Yay - the weekend is finally here!!! Not only do I have a new Unscripted sketch for you, I also have an itty-bitty Copic tutorial!

Over at The Pink Elephant - some of us collaborated on a little "How we do it" post that covers face and hair using Copic markers. I used Lori Boyd's darling Lollipop - LACIE! Isn't she the cutest? Claduia over at Die Cuts R Us is having a Copic sale this week - Sketch markers for $4.25 - YIPPPEEEEE! I AM SOOOOOO THERE!

Below you can see snapshots of how I layered the colors for my card, and the colors are in the top left of the pic:

When doing skin & clothing - I always lay down a thin strip of the darkest colors on the side I'm putting my shadow. Just pretend a bright light is shining on one side of your image & the closest side to the light will be the lightest & the farthest away will be the darkest! I always put a shadow under the hair, too. Then I go back with my lightest color & blend, blend, blend!

Blush is probably my least favorite part AND the one I usually mess up! I just put a big dot of color & then try to blend it with my lightest skin tone.

When I do hair, I do the opposite - I work light to dark. I always put down my darkest color at the roots. (just like real life - lol!)

Make sure you go see what the other Pink Elehant designers put together today, and also the new Unscriped challenge!

Have a terrific weekend!