Pretty Cool

Happy Friday!!!
This is gonna be really fast as I have to head out the door to start my weekend...
Made this card for the WCW challenge at CA&F - Choc, pink and rose colors. Used Cuddle Anya from TGF and the sentiment (TGF) from the Roll Call kit. Also kept with the no dp theme as i couldn't decide on pp. =) using spellbinders and the manhattan embossing folder (S/U) I created this layered rose using shimmery rose colored cs, light pink cs, brown cs and white with the sentiment stamped cs, do you see the rose? lol. For the background I used a pebbled looking embossing folder (Cuttlebug) and layered. Added a pink and white polka dot ribbon and voila:

See pretty fast!
Mahalo for stopping by and have a fantastic weekend!! ;)

Dr. Anya

Happy Thursday. Hope you're having a good day! It's gloomy outside in Calif (boo!) and it's supposed to rain.. Sigh.. Hopefully where you are it's nice and sunny.
So on to my post. TGF is having a really super fun contest called: Design Your Anya. I personally am not a very good sketch artist, but I wanted to try this out. There are so many cool ideas out there and I figured why not submit something of mine. haha.. So here's my attempt, I call her Dr. Anya:

I know it's awful, but hopefully you get the idea. hahaha! Hope you have a great day!!
Mahalo for looking.

Fun with Maria

Hi, Hopefully this post won't be too long tonight. Figured I could post it now since I have some energy before I go to bed.
Broke in another of the cuties from the TGF Roll Call Kit named Maria. She is such a sweetie and I just love her pom-pom ponytails. :)
I played with the CA&F sketch 18 for this card, having a set sketch is always nice when you want to make something quick. I used a color theme of deep red, turquoise-blue and white. Threw in some punches, a stencil and some cool scraps of matching dp for this card:

Here are some snippets of the card:
A close up of Maria from the TGF Roll Call Kit. I "altered" some of her hair to make it look like the whole mass was pinned up. Nice and neat. Colored her dress a beautiful shade of red. The flowers in her hair are similar in color to the rest of the flowers on the card:

This is a close up of the ribbon and the layers of paper used on the card. I wanted to create a Renaissance feel or close to it. I cut out some cool dp using the Stampin' Up top note die and a smaller version of the same cool dp with a smaller Spellbinders Nestabilities label 8. I also cut out some turquoise-blue cs with a slightly larger label 8 die and embossed it using a Sizzix flower embossing folder. Also included is a view of the sponged Versafine blue lagoon ink over a Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Impressabilities stencil onto the white card:

Used a Martha Stewart Fleur De Lis border punch and some cool dp. Here's another shot of the sponged in background on the white card:

Close up of the flowers, each layer is a separate punch and the dots and lines were hand drawn with a Sakura white gel pen:

Here is a close up of the sentiment, again each layer was from a separate punch. I used a Sakura white gel pen to create the dots and the lines on the petals and some white Colorbox ink as an accent border on the sentiment. The sentiment itself from Hero Arts was stamped with a blue lagoon Versafine ink:

This close up is of the 3 flowers in the top left corner above Maria. I was trying to make the same flower coloring and all to match the flowers in Maria's hair. Came pretty close to it. For added effect I rounded the petals to create a dimensional feel. I love the flowers:

Well that's all for now. I hope you have a great Tuesday! Mahalo for stopping by!

CA&F Monday Mania Challenge with.... ME!

Hello and Happy Monday!
If you haven't stopped by the CA&F blog today, please check it out as today's Monday Mania Challenge is with...ME! :) I was super stoked and totally honored to be asked by the fabulous Amy Young to create a challenge for this week's MMC @ CA&F. I went for a 2-parter a color combo and no dp challenge.
So here is the challenge:
First no design or patterned paper (I know a lot of you are probably groaning, but I thought this would be fun to see what you can come up with) & second use the following combo of colors (or similiar to them): My challenge was based on one of the first TGF challenges that I actually won which was a no dp from the fabulous Rachel Schneider and the color combo is one that you don't normally see.
For my first card I used my favorite TGF-WS Ebony and altered her body using Grace's overalls from the (TGF) Hope & Grace set:

Instead of the traditional card I used my Spellbinders to create this scalloped round card. I used my embossing folders to create some dimension to the cs and added some flowers with a little sparkle. Adding the ribbon gave this a little girly touch. The tomboy in me just loves this card and I can't resist her blue eyes.
For my second card I combined Ebony and Hope's dress this time and gave her some light brown eyes.

This is a totally girly card and I took advantage of some embossing folders and punches. Adding lots of flowers always seems to work for me and a super sweet sentiment to add to it doesn't hurt at all.
Well I insist that you get a chance to check out the CA&F blog because the fabulous DT also played along and their cards are just FANTASTIC!!
Here's the run down to play:
Upload a project using a QUALIFYING stamp (these include; Anya, Ian, Wild Sprouts, Hope&Grace, Oliver&Amelia, Cheekies and the Creepy Crew too) into the TGF Galleria>CA&F>Contests/Challenges>Monday Mania>Leanne's no DP/color
(if you don't see the folder right away please check back later)
You have through this Saturday, May 29th, to enter your creation and one lucky winner will be chosen by Leanne to win a single CA&F stamp of their choice (must be in stock). I will announce Leanne's choice with next Monday's post. :)

Have fun with this challenge. I can't wait to see what everyone submits!
MAHALO for stopping by and have a fabulous MONDAY!
Supplies:
Stamps: Ebony, Grace & Hope (TGF); sentiment (StudioG)
Papers: North Sea & Tangelo cs (Bazzil); Shimmery Hot pink cs (Kelly Paper open stock); white cs (Neenah)
Markers & Ink: Copic markers (E33,E00,R20,R85,B24,E21); white, black & clear shimmer gel pens (Sakura); Tuxedo black ink (Memento); Deep Lagoon ink (Versafine)Punches/Die Cuts/Embossing folders: Small & XS five petal flowered punches (Carl craft); scalloped circle & border punches (Martha Stewart)/Circle scalloped & labels 10 die cuts (Spellbinders)/Elegant bouquet EF (Stampin' Up); argyle and swiss dots EF
Ribbon: pink and white (white dots colored with copic B24)(Michael's)
Gems: orange & blue rhinestones (Recollections

Summer Fun

Happy Saturday!
It's a beautiful day today. Looking forward to inking up some new stamps and maybe watch a HS volleyball final today.
One down:

This is a card I just finished. Used one of the cute new Sprouts from the Roll Call set from TGF, Summer, for my card today. I used the CA&F sketch #19 to create this summer yellow card which is the theme for the WCW challenge over at CA&F. When I think of summer I think of blooming flowers and being outdoors. so I put Summer in a field of wildflowers.
Well gotta go and get ready to do the second part of my day. I hope you have a great Saturday and spend it doing something fun.
Mahalo for stopping by.
Supplies:
Stamps: Summer & sentiment (TGF Roll Call set)Papers: Green & apricot cs (Bazzil); green dp (Making Memories); yellow dp (SU); white card and white cs (Neenah)Ink/Markers: Rich cocoa (Memento); Copic markers; white gel pen (Sakura)Punches/Die Cuts/Embossing: Fence & butterflies (MS); scalloped circles (Nestabilities); Swiss dots (Sizzix)Yellow gem (Studio18)Green ribbon

For NC

Happy Friday!
I have a quick post today. Made this card for a co-worker cause it's her bday today. Used some peacock colors this time around, just no peacock feathers or images. Based the colors off of a recycled tissue box that had this really cool print. Hey why not right? Used Miss Anya from the Spotlight stamp set and punched out some tie-dyed looking flowers and a simple brad and ta-da!:

I broke up the blues and greens by adding in some soft baby yellow cs and the flower brad Miss Anya is holding.
Had fun making this one. I especially love the colors and the flowers and can't resist Miss Anya either. Mahalo for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful night.
Supplies:
Paper: turquoise, baby yellow, green, baby blue cs (Bazzil); pp (recycled Kleenex tissue box);| white cs (Neenah)|die cuts/embossing folder: label 12 & square (Nestabilities)/ floral ef (Sizzix)|inks/markers: tuxedo blk ink (Memento); white gel pen (Sakura)/Copic markers|punch: small sakura (Carl Craft)| yellow flower brad

Flowers...

Happy Thursday! In less than an hour I will be off from work (yay!) and home to finish up some letters for a co-worker. I thought I'd post something since it's been a few days. So I have this card that I made for my friends Renate & Zach. They just moved to their new place and all of Renate's craft supplies were in boxes, Zach just found out his mom was in the hospital and they both wanted to send her a get well card. They both asked me if I could make them a card and I was happy to oblige them. =)
I asked what they had in mind and Ren said she wishes she could give her flowers. So I asked her any particular colors? She said nope you know what we like. So I thought some cheerful blossoms with some bright colors would do. Sorry this isn't the greatest picture since I took it with my phone, but you get the "picture" haha no pun intended:

I used 6 punches for this card. 7 different cs colors, 1 sheet of dp, white gel pen, lots of glue and mounting tape and some thread. I've always loved layered flowers on my cards and usually these are the ones that bring the most joy. The vase is a punch that I purchased from Hanko Designs and I've used it one other time. I just love it. The ribbon was from the dollar section at Michael's and went with my bright and cheerful theme. Here's hoping Mrs. Lenz is back at home where she belongs.
Mahalo for stopping by have a wonderful Thursday! I will hopefully be posting something tomorrow. :)
Supplies:
Papers: Light blue card (Hanko); brown, yellow, turqouise, reddish-orange & light yellow cs (Bazzil); white cs (Neenah); dp (IMME)White gel pen (Sakura)Punches: xs and small 5 petal flower (Hanko); leaf (MS); vase (Hanko); tag (Marvy)yellow ribbon (Michael's) yellow thread

A card for James

Happy Friday!! Are you as excited about the weekend as I am?!! Whoo Hoo!! I made this really quick card for my friend James at work. His birthday was on the 8th so it's going to be a Happy belated birthday card. haha!!
I'm using the same elements that I used for Jesse's card, but this time with some bright and fun dp and dark blues... I'm in a dark blue frame of mind lately. Might be cause it's one of my favorite colors.. haha.. I picked the coordinating colors based on the dp, it's so cool, will have to do a surfer card with it in the future.. hmm... Anyhoos here's the card:

I really like how the orange hair came out last time on Eric so I did it again except this time I gave him some black roots.. haha!
I'll have to update the supplies later since I really can't remember anything but the colors of the paper and the stamps.
Have a wonderful Friday and enjoy the weekend!!
Mahalo for stopping by!
Supplies:
Stamps: Eric (TGF); Spotlight Arrow (TGF); sentiment (Hero Arts)Papers: Kraft & white card stock (Neenah); navy blue, cash green, orange and sea blue cs (bazzil)cool dp (tba)Markers/Inks: Copics; versa mark ink; blue lagoon ink (tsukineko) circle punches (S/U!) Distressed rectangle die cuts (Spellbinders)clear embossing powderirridecent circle stickers

Thank you card

Here's another post for today because I just had to share:
My co-worker Erica has a very cute and crafty daughter named Makenzie who's 5. I just recently updated some wooden letters that I made for her about two years ago. Mind you, I've had them for a couple of months and just finally was able to do the update. I know I'm bad so many projects not enough time for them all. But I made time since Makenzie was asking when she was going to get them back. >.<
Before I started using the TGF and other cute stamps for my wooden letters I was only using some cool dp, stamping with my Stampin' Up stamps and adding ribbons or any accessory that went with the theme. Erica wanted me to update Makenzie's letters with Princess Anya so I did and I also included some of the images, including Anya & the stars from the Spotlight set from TGF. I forgot to take a picture of the update, but already asked Erica to take a picture and email it to me. Once I get it I will post it here.
Here is the fabulous envelope. It is totally personlized and the drawings rock! Picasso has nothing on Makenzie!

Erica helped her spell my name, but she spelled her own name. Erica also mentioned that she helped Makenzie spell everything. Here's the front of the card. I think her Asian roots are showing because the card opens from the left. =) She's very handy with punches and look at the adorable butterfly :)

Here is the left inside of the card. She wrote, "I love the letters that you made me" and below is her first Anya, Princess Anya. She's got an eye for color and look almost made it within the lines. :)
On the right inside is her flower drawing and signature, she is super talented ;)

That's all for now. Have a great day!!

Support A Helping Hand - repost

Good morning!!!
Check out the generous giving campaign that is happening over at the Wild Patch kids blog: http://www.thewildflowerpatch.com/?p=559, please pop on over and check out the details. I'm doing my part by helping to post to my blog and purchasing this stamp set so that it will help the state of Tennessee. Have a wonderful Tuesday! Hugs, Leanne
*************************************************************************************
"Lending a Helping Hand
Hi everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful Monday! I’m popping in kind of early today to tell you about a very special collaboration between myself and Betty Roberts of Simply Betty stamps. Last week I was continually reading about and watching footage of the flooding in Nashville. As I was reading Jessica’s blog and noticed her plea for folks that could to donate to the Nashville Red Cross I got the idea that it would be fun and hopefully motivating to create a digital stamp set and donate the proceeds to the Nashville Red Cross. With that idea I emailed Betty who is a FABULOUS artist and asked her if she’d be willing to join with me and she said YES! So A Helping Hand was born. We both set to work drawing as fast as we could and getting the stamps ready to go. At the same time Jess was busy organizing a very special team of stampers and bloggers to help spread the word and now we have the A Helping Hand blog hop!! ~Jennifer Shultz owner/illustrator of Wildflower Patch Kids digital Stamps, and Betty Roberts of Simply Betty, a new stamp line debuting June 1st. "
(Please check out the site to see the list of blog hoppers)


To purchase please go to: http://thewildflowerpatch.com/shop/ and remember a 100% of the proceeds will go to the Nashville Red Cross

Mahalo!

Happy Birthday Fati!

Happy Monday, hope ur week has started out good and that the rest of the week gets better and better. :)
I wanted to share this card I made for my good friend Fatima. Her birthday is on Wednesday so I have to make sure it's in the mail tomorrow.
I'm also entering it in the Monday Mania challenge by Crafty Jenn at CA&F this week. The challenge is to use the following elements on your project: pierce, piece & punch. Pierce any part of the project, paper piece something and then punch using punches not die cuts. I think I covered all the P's on this card: I pierced a border on the colorful dp (My Mind's Eye), paper pieced the centers of the flowers on Fleur Anya's head & punched a border using a Martha Stewart punch.
Adding a fun ribbon (mary englebreit) and some pretty marker colors (Copic) completed this fun card for my dearest friend.
Mahalo for looking!
Supplies:
stamp: Fleur Anya (TGF)papers: red/aqua cs(Bazzil); kraft/white cs (Neenah); dp (My Mind's Eye)inks/markers: tuxedo blk (Memento) & Copic markers8 silver bradsribbon (Mary Englebreit)border punch (Martha Stewart)

Underwater Mural Update

I found the perfect frame for the Flower Explosion image. I adhered it to a clouds dp (paper pizazz) and added some photo corners that were punched from white cs and colored with B39:

Have a great evening!

Underwater Mural

Happy Mother's Day! Hope you are all enjoying the fruits of your labor and lots of pampering. I'm taking my mom out shopping in a bit, and then we are cooking dinner for her. Wishing you all a wonderful day full of pampering, laughter and love!
<3<3<3<3<3<3>

CA&F wild card Wednesday challenge is to use lots of flowers. I just recently received the beautiful Fleur Anya from the Greeting Farm and she was calling me to ink her up. I purchased some navy blue cs and remembered I had previously bought some matching flower dp. Yesterday I found this awesome stamp set called Island fun (Fiskars) at Joann's so an idea came to mind:

This stamp set:

PLUS

Equals:
Using the CA&F Saturday sketch (#17) I combined lots of different images. It might be a lot to look at, but I was happy with the result. I'm planning to mount this into a frame instead of making it a card and perhaps it will go to someone very special to hang in their space. Not sure yet. I might just keep her myself. :)
Here are some close ups so you can view the details. First off here is the very cute Fleur Anya in her weekend blues dress which I paper pieced using the flower dp (My Mind's Eye), colored her with Copics (E00,R20&E44). For her flowers I used Copics (B39&B95). I absolutely love the result! :)
For the background I cut out some white cs (Neenah)using my Nestabilities Flower die, inked & embossed the turtle and hibiscus flowers in blue lagoon (Versafine ink). For the water effect I used Copics (B93&B95). I cut out a large circle in navy to break up the two white pieces of stamped cardstock and for the turtle shell I stamped it twice and embossed it then cut it out and raised it using some mounting tape:
For the flowers (Sakuras) I punched out a few medium (navy blue cs), small (white cs colored with B39&B95) and large (white cs colored with B39&B95); in the center I used the small sunflower in white & also some colored with B39&B95. For the smaller flowers I raised them using some mounting tape:
Here is a side view of the image:
Well that's it! Haha.. sorry for the long post, but I wanted to get in all the details. Mahalo for stopping by!
Supplies:
Stamps: Fleur Anya (TGF) and images from Island Fun (Fiskars)Papers: navy blue cs (solid indigo-DCWV), navy/white flower dp(Family flowers-My Mind's Eye); white cs (Neenah)Inks/Markers:tuxedo black (memento), blue lagoon (Versafine)/E00,R20,E44,B39&B95 (Copics)Punches/Die cuts: sakura (carl carla crafts)& sunflower punches (Marvy); Flower die cut (Nestabilities) clear embossing powder and mounting tape

Jesse's card

This will be my last post tonight... gettin' sleepy...
Not only was it my mom's bday and my friend Michele's bday, it was also my other friend's bday and his name is Jesse. For his card I wanted to go with natural boy colors. I absolutely love this card. I was actually thinking of keeping it but he saw it and thought it was cute. I laughed and told him well u weren't supposed to see it since it was your card.. lol.. He loved it though which made me happy.

I didn't go for the normal hair color, but I absolutely love the orange do. I based it off of one of our favorite anime characters Ichigo Kurosaki from BLEACH:

I used a lot of the Spotlight stamps from TGF and my newest cutie pie WS Eric, also from TGF. Went simple boy style for his outfit and used the same neutral/natural colors for the surrounding images. The swiss dot embossing to the paper really added great dimension to the card and I really like how the greens and the browns worked on the kraft and green papers. The simple sentiment was all I needed to finish off this fun boy card. Mahalo for looking!
Supplies: kraft card & white cs (Neenah)/grass green cs|WS Eric and other stamps TGF/Friend sentiment (Hero Arts)/Sentiment (Hero Arts)|Deckled rectangular dies (Nestabilities)/circle punches (Stampin' Up)|black tuxedo ink & cocoa brown (Memento)/Sage ink (Ancient Page)|Copic markers

I'm Happiest When...

My dad asked me to make him an anniversary card to give to my mom. Here is what I came up with:

Used the perfect sentiment from the Spotlight stamps set from TGF as well as Dad from the Mom & Dad TGF stamp set. For the scene I used the clouds dp from My Mind's Eye and punched some grass green cs with my Martha Stewart icicles punch. Mounted this to a kraft card and for the corners I punched out some dark brown photo corners.
On the inside of the card:

I stamped the rest of the sentiment and also mounted Mom Anya to the inside. I altered her by adding eyes and mounted her head to one of the other Anya bodies then dressed her in one of the outfits from Wardrobe 1. Simple but sweet.
Mahalo for looking!
Supplies: Dad, Mom & Anya sentiment and wardrobe stamps (TGF)|kraft card & white cs (Neenah)|Cloud dp (My Mind's Eye)|grass green cs| black tuxedo ink (Memento)| photo corner punch (EK)/icicles punch (Martha Stewart)| Copic markers

Happy Anniversary!!

Here is the card I made for my parent's anniversary:

I just love it! I masked all the images from C.C. Designs. I used the swing, and both male and female stamps showing they were sharing the swing together. I didn't quite get either image on top of the seat, so I drew in a cushion. It came out pretty good in my opinion. I altered the female giving her short hair and colored in the male's top making it into a sweater. Colored in some sky and some grass on to the white cs. Framed the image with white scalloped square cs & a dark brown scalloped square cut with my Nestabilities. Mounted all of these onto a green polka dot dp and then onto a kraft card.
My parents enjoyed the card as much as I enjoyed making it.
Mahalo for looking!
Supplies: kraft card (Neenah)/white cs (Neenah)/dark brown & white cs (Bazzil)/green polka dot dp (In My Mind's Eye)| Stamps from C.C. Designs|black tuxedo ink (Memento) & Copic markers| Square scalloped die cuts (Nestabilities) & round corner punch (Fiskars)

Sweets for Mom

Lots happened last weekend. First, my mom had a birthday & it was my parent's anniversary! My mom was sick on her bday so we didn't get a chance to whoop it up for her, but she felt lots better on Sunday so we celebrated her bday and anniversary with great japanese food from their favorite restaurant and lots of cakes. 4 to be exact.. lol.. I guess the card I made her for her bday was appropriate:

I stamped the background paper using the Inkadinkado birthday cupcake stamp set and colored in the sweets with some bright and cool colored Copic markers. Standing center stage is cupcake Kiki from C.C. Designs, she is super cute! I framed her with some sparkly hot cerise cs that I cut out with a scalloped oval stencil. Inside that frame I used a really cool green party words dp from Paper Pizazz. Stamped, colored and cut out two flowers from the cupcake set and added them to the frame. Used a really cool green ribbon for some added color and mounted all of these on a dark brown card. Mahalo for looking!
Supplies: dark brown card| white cs (Neenah)|sparkly cerise cs| green party words dp (Paper Pizazz)| Cupcake Kiki stamp (Kiki La Rue from C.C. Designs) & cupcake clear stamps set (Inkadinkado)| black tuxedo ink (Memento)|green ribbon (Celebrate it)|oval & scalloped oval stencils (nestabilities)

You make me smile...

Happy Friday! Sorry I've been MIA, been a busy week at work and home. Have a few posts to catch up on so will be busy this weekend doing that. Hope you are all having a great start to your weekend...
Here is a card I made using another of the awesome Sweet November stamps:

I love Darby's expression and I'm sure Bumbles is also lovin' her smile. I used some spring colors for this fun card and the layout is one of my favorites from CA&F. I wrote in the sentiment because I couldn't find a stamp that would fit.
Mahalo for looking!
Supplies: Kraft card & white cs (Neenah)|white & pink cs (bazzil)|yellow & white dp (Stampin' Up!)|Darby & Bumbles stamps (Sweet November)|black memento ink (Memento)|Copic markers

Dahlia's flower frame

Good morning!
It's gonna be one of those days. Hopefully I won't fall asleep at my desk like I always do when I'm crafting without sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepppppp... oops! haha
Wanted to share this chipboard frame with ya. Using the same chipboard frame I changed it up with flower punches and one wild sprout. I just grabbed the papers I thought would look well together out of the same spring dp set that I used for the other frame and card combo. Fortunately they matched the colors from Monday Mania's Neopolitan color challenge by Clairebelle over at CA&F. Woo hoo! Used WS Dahlia from TGF, isn't she one of the cutest stamps ever?! haha.. Inked her with brown and for her lips used some pink ink. Colored her in pinks, and my version of vanilla. And then just punched out a ton of flowers... So happy with the result.

Mahalo for stopping by...Have a great Tuesday!
Supplies:
wild sprout dahlia stamp (tgf)|chipboard frame|white, pink & dark brown cs| pink/white & brown/pink dp (memories)|five petal punches (marvy)|label 1 (spellbinders)|brown ink (memento)|letters cut from the groovy hello kitty set from sizzix|white lg eyelets|brown ribbon|swiss dots embossing folder (cuttlebug)|copic markers used to color dahlia