Fussy Cutting with Di's Digi Downloads

 It's time for another For Fun Challenge! The theme? Kids at play. I know. Kids. Not my forte' but luckily Di's Digi Downloads has some super cute images of kids and animals being adorable together. :)

 So, here's my card sample. I used one of my favorite paper lines, DeLovely! Those colors just jump off the page with vibrant pinks and greens that really work for any season. In spring, it's the color of new growth. In summer, bright pool toys and beach towels. In fall, it reminds me of brand new book covers and back to school clothes (yeah, I know. I'm in my 30's and yet you never seem to forget that back-to-school excited feeling. The OCD in me just eats up that delicious brand-new school year clean feeling that makes autumn feel so fresh, like anything can happen. You have a whole new chance to start over. Moving on, these colors also remind me of ultra-bright Christmas lights that are so very red, they glow pink and so very green, they glow a bit bluish.

I colored several copies of the image I used, then cut out the dog, flowers, butterfly, teddybear, and bow, layering over the original copy of the stamp with pop dots. I took this photo at an angle so you can see the dimension more clearly. The brads were from my stash. I was lucky to find ones that matched so nicely.

I'm entering this card in the Stitchybear Use-any-digi challenge. Wish me luck!

Kitty Break! Kitty Break! Okay, it's more of a finale than a break this time since Toulouse is winding up this week's post. And yes, he is our Mega Scratcher. He doesn't seem to know that his claws retract so he has a habit of accidentallly causing bleeding in his overenthusiasm. He doesn't mean it though. He just wants to play.

So, stop by For Fun Challenges and play along with the "Kids at Play" challenge and win some fabulous digi stamps of your own. She has a slew of stamps too choose from. I dare you to visit her store without falling for at least one. :)

Revisiting Xmas with Michelle Perkett Studio

 For Fun Challenges is having another winter holiday challenge! I'm loving designing for these challenges because they help me get a head start on the somewhat daunting task of making enough xmas cards for my always growing mailing list. I'm a letter writer year-round, and have been pen pal-ing since I was a kid, so I never have a problem using up my cards, but add to that the large number of online friends and others who I use the holidays as an excuse to touch base with via postal mail once a year and it's a wonder I haven't been crushed beneath a xmas card avalanche yet!

I chose Peppermint the Bear as my digistamp for this challenge. I just love how he's sitting with his back paws in the air, since Revco (pictured below) sits just the same way. He didn't require a ton of coloring--just a bit of shading and some festive red touches, both done in copics. The blue parts (aside from shading) are actually blue flocking I adhered using a Creative Memories glue pen. I usually enjoy adding a ton of color to my stamped images, so I was surprised at how much I loved working with this one. I can't wait to see what Michelle comes up with next. I definitely hope to see more animals and more wintry digis. We'll just have to keep an eye on her shop. In the mean time, why not make a card for our challenge this week at For Fun Challenges? That way, you can win some free digis to get you started!

Revco, keeping an eye on the neighbors. Note the sitting position--butt down, back legs up, just like Peppermint! :)

CDAC Progressive Freebie Challenge...Project #1

cdacpc1--CDAC Progressive Freebie Challenge for August. My favorite part of this image was using liquid pearls to make the teeny tiny stamen on bleeding hearts. http://priscillastyles.ning.com/
Thanks to Sandi Sample's Digital Stamps for the teapot digital stamp.

How I got carried away by the E.A.D. color challenge.

Well, I was supposed to make one card for the E.A.D. Challenge, but between their cute stickers, the new Stampin' Up colors, and a searing headache, once I got started, I just kept going.

 It's rare that I make a card without coloring a stamped image, but I was sucked in by these wee forest animals.

And I felt too ill to do much else today.

Still, it was nice to take solace in doing something productive today.

Anyway, here's the actual challenge card, rendered in the three requisite colors. Check out their site. Not only are their stickers cute, they have free shipping for their small stickers like these. Rock on.

Just One Sparkly Card

I couldn't resist an excuse to make this sparkly dog card for the Outlines Summer-themed challenge. It's been stupidly hot here so I focused on cool swimming pool colors. It's a bit hard to see, but I pop dotted the "dogs rule"" section so it's raised up above all the others. I even colored *and* glittered the layer below it despite it being totally unnecessary. Now that's attention to detail!

Mondo Cuteness from Wee Stamps

This week's For Fun Challenge is a layout instead of a card. So, Julie, if you're reading this, thank you for the photo you enclosed in your Christmas card a couple of years ago. You'll be glad to know that I finally got it scrapped. Check out her adorable menagerie. She's almost as hopeless as I am when it comes to animals:

 Wee Stamps is new to me, so I was really excited to check out their shop. Check out the adorable snow bunny in his cute sled. And they have squirrels, too. Squirrels! It's a little hard to tell in the photo, but I had a blast with the digistamp I used in my layout. The best thing about holiday crafting is the excuse to use glitter to the extreme and I didn't fail to do so. One of my happiest memories is being in elementary school, decorating Christmas projects with fat pearls of white glue, doused in a thick crust of multicolor glitter. The sheer excessive use of my craft supplies was a deep rush of happy, but the best part came a few hours later when I'd cave to the impulse to pop those half-dried beads of glue, luxuriating in the crunch of the dried glitter layer on the outside, breaking away to the smush of the still-liquid glue inside. That feeling will always be Christmas to me. Yum.

Before ending with an Orange Pretty Kitty moment, I want to take one more moment to encourage you to stop by For Fun Challenges  and submit your own layout to the challenge. You could be randomly chosen to win 3 images of your choice from Wee Stamps!

And here he is...your reward for making it through another of my bloggity blah blah blog entries. Don't worry, I know you only put up with me for the cute animal pics. I love this particular photo. Toulouse is easily one of the goofiest cats ever and yet he photographs so well. Not bad for such a dink! :)

A Taste of Summer with MelJen's

 Okay, it's For Fun Challenges time again. Last week's challenge was HUGE! 181 entries kept us busy checking out your cards and visiting your blogs. It's one of the things I love about being on a design team. I get to see so many different blogs each week where I find out about new stamp companies, techniques and gather ideas for new craft projects to work on (though I think by now my idea notebook has enough craft ideas to keep me busy well into 2025.)

So, let's talk about this week's challenge! MelJen's designs is our sponsor this week. I am a long time fan of her digital stamps, and if you take a moment to visit her site, you'll know why. Animals! Adorable happy little animals! How could I possibly resist? She's got dog breeds, kitties, mice, bunnies, even rats. I want every last stamp in her shop.

Now, the big reveal...this week's challenge theme is...watermelon! Yes, that cold, delicious, juicy symbol of all things summery. Some people put salt on it, but between you and me, I'm sure you can agree, they are weirdos. Why add one more step between cutting and eating? I can hardly stand to wait till it's in slices as it is. I'm tempted to just dive in with a spoon the minute I see a flash of red flesh. (Did that sound too zombie-like?)

"Watermelon? Did somebody say there's watermelon around? Gimmie gimmie gimmie!"

Please excuse the interruption. That's Howard. He's a big fan of watermelon. Actually he's a fan of food of pretty much any kind. His physique kind of shows it, though I try to keep it from getting out of control. Male rats have a tendency to turn into big squishy boys, though it's not good to let them get *too* squishy. Anyway, let's get to my card this week:

Could this mousey be any cuter? And he's happily chowing down on watermelon ice cream (yeah, okay, I stretched it a little, but I *would* love some watermelon sorbet and so would most of the mice I know.) I've also entered this card into the challenge at Really Reasonable Ribbon (summer theme). I've been hoarding that gorgeous pink and purple flowered ribbon for quite a while and finally decided that *this* was the card that called for it.

So, join us in our challenge this week. Don't forget to take a look at MelJen's shop at Whimsie Stamps. There are also some really great freebies you can use. You get extra chances to win if you use a stamp by MelJens. With four of her digital stamps as the prize, you don't miss out this week!