Gwen's Card Challenge to Make a Child Smile

Gwen has a wonderful challenge at her blog. It is to make a card for a child at the Make a Child Smile organization. The link to their site is on my sidebar, in case this inner link doesn't work (which always happens to me! lol) You post your card and a photo of the child you picked to send a card to. You also post a link to the organization. Then link your post in Gwen's comments for the challenge. This is such an awesome thing that Gwen is doing - she is giving a TOTALLY SWEET RAK for the random winner. Hurry though! You have until tomorrow night (7/31) at midnight to get your card in.

Please read her blog. She has lots of info about the organization. If you click on the link in my sidebar, which will stay there, you can go directly to the site at any time. New children are featured all the time. You send a card or maybe a little more. Please take the time to read all about it. I am pretty amazed that our cards can make such a difference for these kids that are very sick. Here is the card I am sending:

The pp is CTMH, and the stamp is one I got from Memories from the Attic. It is by Imaginsce, the Twitterpattered Collection. I colored it with Copics, and highlighted it with Stickles. I think it will be the perfect card for this young lady:

This is Ariel, and she is 15. Her pic is on the front of the Make A Child Smile site as a featured child. She has intractable epilepsy. You can read all about her at the site. Isn't she a pretty young lady?! I am so glad that Gwen gave me the scoop on this site! I hope lots of you will take her challenge!

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!

One Card - Three Challenges

I originally made this card for Challenge # 16 on the Stamp with Fun Challenge Blog, which was a sketch challenge. I always forget that they are not from the US, and their time is different, so I didn't get this in on time for that sketch challenge. However, the current challenge (#17) is using pearls on your card. Since my card had lots of pearls, it still fits their challenge, so I am using it for this week! Yay! Their is a really nice prize this week, with a Stampavie Stamp given by Paper Basics. We all know that I love Stampavie! Needless to say, I would love to win this!

I am also using this card for the Stamp Something Challenge Blog. Their challenge this week is "Winged Things", so the stamp that I used by "Stamps Happen" fits that (along with my butterfly). The fairy is colored in with Copics, and the flowers she is in were colored with Perfect Pearls Metallics in the "Perfect Pearl" color mixed with a little water. You can't really see all the shimmer in the pic. It is so shiny!

Last, but not least, of course, is Jeanette's Wings Card Challenge for July at My Sketch World. I actually have another card I want to make for that, but I am going to turn this one in and see if I can do two!

Btw, the pp is by Prima. It is already stitched. I wish I could say that I did that! The circle paper is Heidi Swapp. The butterfly and pearls are by K & Co.

Thanks for looking and have a blessed day!

Stampavie DT Call!

First let me say that, no, you are not seeing double! lol

I was so excited to find out that Stampavie is having a DT challenge! I know that it is a long shot to win, since there is so much talent out there, but I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to design for Stampavie. I had planned on using the last 2 posts for their DT call, but Blogger is not being nice and won't let me link directly! So, pardon the repetition, but I am going to post the pics of my cards from the last 2 posts again, as these are the only Stampavie stamps I am fortunate enough to have anyway. Both of the cards are from Sarah Kay's collection. The first card was based on a sketch. The second was based on the song "Seasons in the Sun". I won't say more, because you have read it all in the 2 previous posts! lol Wish me luck!

Stampin for the Weekend with Stampavie

I am a happy camper because as I mentioned in my last post, I have another darling new stamp by Sarah Kay from Stampavie that I have been dying to use, called Country Girl. Well, I found another new stamping challenge blog, Stampin for the Weekend, and their challenge for this week was to create a lo or card based on one of the 3 song titles they gave us. I chose to do "Seasons in the Sun" by Terry Jacks, and yes, I'm old enough to remember it well! lol

Anyway, I thought this stamp would be just perfect for that title. It seems summery to me, and I colored it with Copic colors that I hope accented that summery look. I chalked the area behind the stamped image. I really like using chalks. I like the look, and they are very forgiving! The background papers I chose were from Bo Bunny's Calypso Collection, and Fancy Pant's On A Whimsy collection. I hadn't seen this paper by Fancy Pants, and it was particularly appropriate with the sun as a part of the pp. I think I'm going to have to have more of this collection. Of course, I ALWAYS love Fancy Pants. The sentiment is actually a rub on from American Traditional Designs, and again, I thought it was right on the mark for the theme of the challenge. I thought this would make a cute card to send to a friend as a "thinking of you" type card. I hope someone would be pleased to get it!

Btw, don't forget that Samantha chose her design team for SPCC. Looks like a really great group of girls. I think we are in for lots of fun! Stop by and congratulate them!

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!

My Adorable Stampavie Stamp for Charmed Cards & Crafts Challenge

In case I haven't mentioned it lately, I love Stampavie Stamps. I drool over every one of their collections! One of my favorite designers of Stampavie is Sarah Kay. She designs the such adorable stamps. I had to do a little on line shopping the other day, cause I absolutely HAD to have one of her stamps. I didn't have even one! I know! Shocking, isn't it? Well, the two I ordered came in the mail. I couldn't wait to use one of the stamps and play with my Copics as well, so I made this card. I used the sketch from last week at Allsorts Challenge Blog. I finished this too late last night to turn it in for the challenge, but I found out I could use it for Charmed Cards and Crafts Copic Giveaway! Charmed Cards has teamed up with Graphics Direct to do ANOTHER giveaway of 72 Copics! Can you imagine how awesome it would be to win that blog candy?! Of course you can! lol Maybe I'll be lucky enough to tell you on August 4th! Anyway, I had so much fun coloring with my (limited but growing) Copics collecction. It's hard to tell from the pic, but the 3 sweet littel flowers are a beautiful shade of purple. Wish that showed up better. The pp is Basic Grey's Wisteria collection (which I also love! lol). Thanks for looking. You will see more of this stamp, cause I can't wait to color it in different ways and make different types of cards with it. This sentiment says "Special", but there is so much you could use this for!



Have a blessed day!

SPCC Challenge 6

These are the colors for Samantha's Color Combo Challenge this week. We had four colors to work with, which made it fun but more challenging for me. I have to admit that since I finally decided to do a lo for this challenge instead of a card, I had to go out and shop a little. I just didn't have any pp that made me happy with those colors. The lo that I did is of my mother and Charles (my stepdad). The photos were taken the last summer she was well, so I wanted to have some paper that I really liked. The pp is from My Mind's Eye, The Laundry Line Collection. It is really pretty. Dont' think the photo of the lo adequately shows the shimmer of either of the pp. The colors are all a really close match - probably the best I have done yet. Hope you can tell!

The quote on the vintage "playing card" says, "If you have but one smile in you, give it to someone you love". I put some blue Stickles on the bird die cut for a little extra bling, and some brown Stickles in the middle of the bottom die cut. The die cuts are all from the same line as the pp. The frames around the photos are cut out of acetate.

Remember, today is the last day to apply for the DT at SPCC. Samantha also mentioned a surprise! Hmmm........Guess we all need to stop by and check it out! I know I will. Good luck to everyone who is applying for the DT! Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday MATT!

My son turned the big 27 yesterday! Yes, 27! Can you believe it? lol Well, he can't. He thinks he is getting old. Seriously. I don't know what that means for some of the rest of us. He had a celebration with some of his "bestest" friends. Naturally that meant, I had to tag along. I had to take pics! This one is Matt and "his boys".

Matt is on the far left, then Dustin, Blake and Brad. It's rough to be so old! lol Since Matt was feeling so old, I decided to make this card for him. I needed to assure him that he would not lack female companionship now that he is the big 2 7 !! So............................

He was thrilled! lol He actually thought it was pretty hilarious. I had fun making the card. The stamp is by River City Rubber Works. I used paper piecing to make it. In this case, I stamped the image 4 times, once on white paper, then on 2 pp by Cosmo Cricket, plus a greenish colored pp by ......I'm not sure who. I then cut out the dresses, each one from a different pp, and adhered them to the original image. I haven't really done much piecing. I would hate to do this if it were much more tedious. I even cut the pocketbook out of a separate piece. Of course Matt is worth it! Anyway, I attached "the girls" with pop dots for dimension. Oh yes, the fonts I used were by Scrapfonts.com. Then the bottom was a bright birthday sticker. Had to add a festive look somewhere! Inside I wrote a mushy message, of course, because I am so blessed to have such a wonderful son! Happy Birthday, Matt! I'll always love you!

Owen the Owl - I NEEDED Him!

Well, today I am posting a card I made that is for Samantha's Color Combo Challenge at SPCC (that is Scrapmaster's Paradise Color Combos!), and I also used this week's sketch at Caardvark's for their Challenge. Here are the yummy colors Samantha chose this week:

Aren't these adorable? I don't have any Stamping Up materials, except for some stamp sets that I love, so I was appalled at the lack of colors that were close enough to suit me in my stash! I did the best I could. Guess I need to put in an order to Stamping Up, huh? See, I NEED to shop. lol

I was fortunate to have Owen the Owl to help me out though. In case you think I've lost my mind, Owen is this adorable owl stamp made by Kim Hughes for Cornish Heritage Farms. I love all her stamps. Notice I keep saying I love certain stamps. I love SO MANY! I couldn't even begin to list them - well, you wouldn't want me to. Anyway, back to the subject at hand, I was able to color in Owen with colors that were pretty much on the money. Here is the sketch I used from Caardvarks. (Actually, the sketch originally came from Sheetload of Cards, FYI.)

So, here is my card. By the way, I colored in Owen with Copics and some colored pencils on the wings. I couldn't get the Mango color right for Owen's party hat (since I don't have many of those expensive Copics!), so I covered the pink Copics with Distress Stickles "Worn Lipstick". That gave some bling plus I was much happier with the color. Well, see what I mean:

See how cute Owen is? He looks great with Samantha's color choices! The sentiment is by Inkadinkado. The aqua paper is Basic Grey. The mango pp and all the flowers are Prima. The little flower brads are Making Memories and ribbon is SEI.

Be sure and have a look at SPCC. I have had a peek at some of the other cards for the challenge, and there are lots of talented artists out there! The site continues to grow, too! The list of entries keeps getting longer! Don't forget, Samantha is looking for a DT. Here is the link to the info about it. The call ends July 17th, so better hurry!

You Are Invited to my new ATC swap!

I am hosting a new ATC swap. You can sign up here and at here or Memories from the Attic.

But before I give you the info on the swap, I just wanted to explain the pic I have posted today. The lo I did yesterday for the challenge at SPCC just did not make me happy. This is pretty normal for me. I often finish a card or lo (especially lo's) and look at them the next day with a fresh eye. Then I change them. I decided this one had too many bright colors for the old photo. I also love to cluster embellies around a pic, but decided that there were so many that they just took away from the photo, instead of enhancing it. So I removed a lot of those, removed the word FAMILY and made a little element that I thought was more in keeping with photo. Then I went over the word POP with a brown marker to soften the bright green of those Martha Stewart letters. Also distressed the frame a little more. I like it much better. That is what I get for waiting until the last minute to do a challenge. This is twice I have had posts like this lately! lol

Back to the swap. a few of the girls at the Attic are ready to do another swap and have given me their ideas for the theme. So with that in mind, the theme for our next swap will be: BIRDS AND BUTTERFLIES! Any technique you want to use if fine. That will be totally up to you.

EVERYONE is invited to participate, even if you have not swapped with us before, and you don't have to be a member at the Attic. You can sign up here at my blog

This is a 3/3 swap as usual. By that I mean, make 3 ATCs and you will get 3 in return. You may make all of the ATCs basically the same, or you may make them all entirely different. Send them to me with a sase (self-addressed stamped envelope). Please put 2 stamps on the return envelope, as I usually add some extra packaging if you haven't already. I would hate to think anything happened to your ATCs in the mail! The cut off date to sign up or withdraw will be July 24th. Please get them to me by July 30.

Comment here or email me when you need my addy to send me your creations . I will email my address back to you. Also, when I get all of them, I would love to post pics of all of the ATCs here for everyone to enjoy if you don't mind! If you don't want yours posted, be sure and let me know!

Remember, newbies are welcome! I will be glad to help you in any way I can. Let me know if you have any questions.

Come on ladies and swap! ATCs are so much fun. There may even be a RAK involved if we get enough swappers. I am pondering that one and will let you know right away!

Scrapmaster's Paradise Color Combo Challenge 4

This week the color's for Samantha's challenge at Scrapmaster's Paradise Color Combo Blog are Glorious Green, Passion Pink and Sunny Yellow. I was so excited to have made it in the top 5 last week, so I thought I would give it a shot again. The photo I used for my lo is one of me sitting on my grandfather's lap when I was about 5 years old. This is going in the book of me/Bio of me album I am doing. The pp had all three colors. It is from my stash, and I'm not sure who made it. Flowers are from Prima, Queen & Co. and from a flower lei that cost $1. I just took it apart! lol The green alphas are from Martha Stewart. The O in "Pop" has a heart rhinestone that I adhered to it, but it didn't come out too clear in my slightly crooked pic! I did direct to paper stamping of the background cs to get the correct colors. The pink scalloped edges are by Doodlebug. I see Samantha's site is already growing. Remember, she is looking for a DT. Stop by and have a look, ladies!

Also wanted to add that I have been visiting Scrapbook Doodle again. I used to hang there all the time before I started designing for Memories from the Attic. Everyone there is just as sweet and crazy (great combo, huh? lol) as ever, even the newer girls that I don't know. Lots of talent there. Another great place you should visit!

Remember, if you go 2 posts back, the free digi stamps are still available until tomorrow. Grab them while they are still free by right clicking and then clicking save as. Go from there. I'll be glad to help if you need it!

Hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend, and thanks for stopping by.

Scrap'nArts Magazine

Just a quick post to tell you I was so excited to find out that I was one of the two people that won the prize for the June blog challenges for Scrap'nArts magazine! Yay! My entries are in the post below. I also made a new friend, Gwen, who was the other girl that won. She is very sweet and very talented. She had SO MANY awesome entries - you need to check out her blog and the Scrap'nArts Mag Blog. Both of those links are in my sidebar. I have a terrible time getting links in here to stay linked, so just link from my sidebar and you should end up at the right place!

If you have not subscribed to Scrap'nArts mag, you really should. They have a new look and if you look at their sneak peak, you will want to subscribe!

Also, thanks to you all that have contacted me about the free digi downloads in the post before this one. Anna hasn't been here yet to see her comments here, or at My Sketch World, or on my email. So if you haven't left a comment about the lovely fairy she drew by hand (completely her design - no copying!), please take a sec and do so. As I said before, at TWELVE, she is soooo excited and amazed that people like her art!

"Chip" the kitty cat and Anna's fairy will only be free until the 5th. Then off to my ETSY store they go! Just think - Chip was used on the card that won one of the Scrap'nArt's challenge! But Sam does not get to share my prize! No! lol

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!

Free Cat Digital Stamp Download!

Hello everyone! Lots of things going on! First of all, Sam has drawn several new digital stamps for our ETSY store, Dreamer's Boutique. I am posting one of them, who we are calling "Chip, the Cat" (cause his pudgy cheeks look like a chipmunk's!), for you here as a FREE digital download until July 4th. After that you will find it for purchase in our ETSY store. I think you will agree that Sam did a great job on this! Remember that all you have to do to download this is right click on the image and click Save As.... Then save it in your pics, or wherever you like. All you do at that point is print it. If you want it larger or smaller than the original, you can change it in any photo software you have, or even in your printer program. You know, where you have the choice of printing full page, 8 x10, 5 x 7, wallet size etc. You do not have to know ANYTHING about digi scrapping to do this. Just print, cut it out and use it on your card or lo. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions, and I'll be glad to help you out

I used Chip the Cat to make this card to enter in the Scrap'nArts June challenge about using chalks on your card. I chalked most of the image of Chip the Cat. I did use the chalks with a water brush around the edges to help stay in the lines. I also chalked the background of the digital stamp, the background of the sentiment, and the bottom of the base card. I love using chalks. I haven't used them much lately, so I really appreciated the challenge!

I also did another June challenge for Scrap'nArts blog. This one was about using ripped paper on your card or lo for dimension. I combined this with a challenge for Lucy's Summer Cyber Crop at My Sketch World, where you had to use the word Summer in the title. This was actually Toni's challenge. So this lo, One Special Summer, fit both challenges. It is actually a photo of me when I was a little girl. What memories that photo brings back!

I have one more thing you must see. Sam's niece, Anna, who is not even a teenager yet, drew the most darling fairy! She obviously inherited Sam's talent. I was so impressed with her drawing that we are posting it in our ETSY shop as a digital stamp also. But for now I am posting it here for 2 days as ANOTHER FREE digital stamp for you. I think you will be as amazed as I! Please leave Anna some love! Looks like we have a future designer here! (Please leave Sam some love too - he gets all pouty. lol)

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!