Paper Ala Mode - Under the Sea

I couldn't resist using this little octopus image as he seems to be so cheerful - hoping his friends will be joyful.

I chose to create a single-layer card using Angie's Digital Stamp Octopus with Bows. Everything was colored using Gimp.  I added a brushstroke for the ocean scene.

Stamp: Octopus with Bows - Angie's Digital Stamps

Challenge:  Paper Ala Mode - Under the Sea

Pet Sympathy

Today I have a card designed using We Are 3's New Release Dog Love digital papers.  Miss Kate Cuttables Dog Set used for the dog bone.

The Outlawz Color Challenge - and Farm Life

It is nice to prepare early and have card ready to mail out for special occasions.  I live in Arizona, so Southwest themes are popular with my friends.  Today I created a pretty card using the beautiful We Are 3 Farm Life digital papers.  The colors are inspired by the current Color Challenge at The Outlawz.

Farm Life Card

Today I used papers from the Farm Life Collection to create this cute little card.  I also used We Are 3's Hearts and Home Birdie.  The design is inspired by this week's Sketch Challenge at The Outlawz.

            

Making Paper with Digital Stamps

I had so much fun today making my own paper design using digital stamps, inspired by Elizabeth's Inspire Me Monday technique over at Power Poppy - Making Japanese Paper-Inspired Designs with Digital Stamps. For my paper, I began with a patterned paper from We Are 3's Textures collection. I then downloaded a Lattice 40 from Monica's Creative Room and used it as a digital stencil. Using the stencil in Gimp, I "spraypainted" a gradient design over the textures paper. I topped this off with digital flowers - Black-Eyed Susan from Power Poppy. Is that paper not gorgeous?!?!?!? Here is a purse giftbag I made using the paper. A pic of the paper alone is shown below - I just love it!!!!  

The purse file is an exclusive file made for Sizzix Eclips Users Group by Trina Struckman.  There is a "wallet" to go along that carries gift cards - hope to make that tomorrow.

My final entry for the Power Poppy Power & Spark Challenge - Go Ahead, Inspire Me. I had so much fun with this challenge this month!!!! Thanks, Power Poppy Brigade, for pushing me to spend time on those posts you all work so hard to post for us.

Wedding Layout

The papers I used for today's layout are from We Are 3 - Nature Blends and Burlap Beach.

 

Summer Fun - Vintage Carnival

I love working with We Are 3's digital papers.  Today I designed another scrapbook layout using the Vintage Carnival collection.

Halloween with Itsy Bitsy Spider

Are you following Feature Stamper at Splitcoast Stampers?  I designed a card inspired by this week's Featured Stamper - as you can see in the picture, it's a very simple card.  I used a spider from Halloween Icons (Miss Kate Cuttables).

Join us at Featured Stamper - I know you will have fun!

The Adventure Begins

I have been busy playing with all kinds of techniques from the Inspire Me Monday Posts at Power Poppy.  Julie share three unique techniques in her post, A Little Word Play - all three are very fun to work with.

For this third technique, I used the Scene Ladybugs digital image - Bugaboo to create the background for this fun card.  The sentiment added is The Adventure Begins from So Fontsy.  Be sure to check out this inspirational ideas at Power Poppy...then play along in their Power & Spark Challenge - Go Ahead, Inspire Me.

Just a Note to Say

I have been mesmerized by this month's Power & Spark Challenge at Power Poppy - Go Ahead, Inspire Me.  This card was inspired by Julie's Inspire Me Monday Post - A Little Word Play.

I have sometimes used floral image such as this one from Graceful Still Life for card backgrounds...and I've filled words using digital paper patterns - yet I've never thought of filling a word with a floral image!  Just how pretty is that!!!!

Be sure to check out Julie's post so you can create a project that will be loved by the special someone!  Oh, I just noticed July has a third card on this post - guess what I'll be doing this afternoon!!!!

Saturday Paper Ala Mode Challenge

Patterns from At the Beach have been teamed up for this easel card.  A sassy Flamingo image and sentiment add some fun!

Materials Used:

• Images - Flamingo on the Beach (Sasayki Glitter); Just a Little Beach (Design Bundles)
• Papers - At the Beach (We Are 3)
• Die Cut - Heart Doily (SVG Cuts)

Love

Something new (to me) and fun!  This month Power Poppy's Power & Spark Challenge is Go Ahead...Inspire Me - asking for entries inspired by their Monday blogs.  This challenge has inspired me to actually spend time reading those blogs!  LOL!  My inspiration today is Julie's post "A Little Word Play."  The inspiration is a card incorporating a sentiment along with a digital design.

I decided to go with Duo Roses from Doodle Pantry - and a computer-generated Love.  Visit Julie's post for step-by-step instructions.

To finish my card, I just matted the finished image.  Be sure to go over to the Power Poppy Blog to view all the other cards created for this challenge.

Monday Greetings Challenge

This little girl is enjoying the Halloween season.  Today I used Daisy May Pumpkin Carving from Angie's Digital Stamps to create this cute Halloween card for The Outlawz Monday Greetings challenge.

For the background I used We Are 3's Orange Retro.  All the sentiments are from my stash.

Home Depot Joy

This layout was designed using DAW Surface Designs's Woodworkers Clip Art and a car from Creative Fabrica's Street Scene Builder.  The striped matting is from We Are 3's Vintage Carnival Collection.

Roses

Roses always create such beautiful cards.  I've been practicing my rose coloring - inspired by the Inspire Me Monday video at Power Poppy - Copic Shading and Shadows.  I designed this card with flowers using Power Poppy's Graceful Still Life.  I was pleased with my first attempt - but felt my roses were lacking color due to over shadowing.  So today's attempt was to have brighter roses.  I'm happy with these in that I was able to leave some white at ends of petals to brighten up my flowers.  Entering my completed work in the Power Poppy challenge Power & Spark - Go Ahead - Inspire Me.

Summer Fun - Surprise at the Beach

This is a card I designed for The Outlawz - both the Wednesday Sketch and Tuesday Color Challenges.  I used TLC Creations' beautiful free image Summer Fun - Surprise at the Beach.  Just seeing this makes me want to dig my feet into the sand!

When I first saw the sketch, I imagined creating a card very similar including a butterfly and a tag.  My butterfly turned into a sandcastle - and I thought the sand pal and shovel was just the perfect tag to complete this card.  The Color Challenge was Tic-Tac-Toe - I chose Bathing Suit, Orange, and Palm Tree.

Sometimes I Just Want Something Quick and Easy!

I've been wanting to create an eclipse card. This is what I designed - wanted to keep it quick and simple.

Patterned paper from We Are 3's Just for You was used for the base.  The top layer is from We Are 3's Delightful Dragonflies.  Using my Eclips, I cup out the sentiment and popdotted it back onto the front.  Very simple, yet effective technique.  Holly was added from my stash - I have a lot of holly left over from classes I've taught.  Think this might be my goto Christmas card this year to help empty my stash of holly and snowflakes.

            

With Deepest Sympathy

Today I was practicing coloring white roses when my hubby came in asking for a sympathy card for the family of a golf buddy who had died yesterday. I continued with my coloring - and altered the image a bit. The original image from Power Poppy (Graceful Still Life) includes books and a hat. I used Gimp to erase those elements, and I added a golf club and golf ball. Quite the turn my card took - but I love how it turned out.

Here's a close-up of the image.