Bugaboos for Crafty Hazelnut's Challenge

Hello Friends -

I have two cards for you today.  They are VERY similar but just slightly different.  Can you find the differences?

and here is the second card.

I must admit, this is going to be a quick post.  Those are all the pictures I have for you today.  As for the details, the images are freebies from Jodi over at Bugaboo Stamps.  One of the things I love about the simpler images, my coloring doesn't need to be as sophisticated.  I'm just not that good at the layering and shading and all that.  

Here is the link for the AKVs.  I'm not certain they are in there (I think these were special for Facebook Friends or newsletter recipients).  Don't forget to tell Jodi how much you like them.

The paper is from a Martha Stewart Christmas pack that I bought last year.  

I am entering these in the Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge blog (she was looking for something with bright colors) and the Catch the Bug Anything Goes Challenge.

Bugaboo Voices Card

Hello Friends -

I have another fun card today from the digis at Bugaboo Stamps.  This one is going to my cousin who has been a bit ill.  I think she is going to giggle up a storm over this one.

I used Tim Holtz's Pattern & Stitches Texture Fades.  I love this set and haven't used it nearly as much as I would like.  The blue base is Core'dinations and the digi is cut out using the Deckled Edges Nestability.

Here is the sentiment.

What do you think of the card?  Do you think she'll like it?

Can you tell the Wonderkid has been back in school for a week and a half?  I've been busy (Thursday found me painting the pantry before I put all of the food back in and organized it.) but I still feel like some of my time is "my own".  I've noticed the Wonderkid is willing to play by himself a bit more after a day with all of his friends.

So, I am hoping to get back into the swing of the blog.  I have a ton of things to show but I need to take the time to prep the pictures and write up the posts.  I also have a list of projects about a mile long.

Bah Humbug For The Girls

Hello Friends --

I am back with another Christmas card for the Bah Humbug challenge.  This one was fun.  I knew what I wanted to do right away, I just needed to find the time to get it done.  So, in classic fashion, I'm sneaking in the night before this is "due".

The challenge was to make a card "For The Girls".  You could interpret that in many different ways.  I thought this image from Bugaboo Stamps was perfect.  You can find a ton of fun/funny characters in the Bugaboo collection.  This one is called Scarlette Cafe and can be found here.

The sentiment actually goes with another digi but I thought she looked like she wants Santa's naughty boy list.  What do you think?  Would Scarlette have a good time with Santa's list of naughty boys?

I used my Curved Rectangles Nestie for the image and the backing.  I pop dotted both of them to give it all a bit of dimension.  The sad thing, it looked a bit plain that way so I pulled out some letter stamps from the Teresa Collins Blingage Alphabets and made a pattern of HO HO HO.  I probably should find some smaller letters next time (I think I'll be doing quite a few of this design).

Now, for a funny story.  This week the Wonderkid had to go to the dentist to get two cavities filled.  How can a 4 year old have cavities?  Well, according to the dentist it actually didn't have anything to do with his eating or brushing and had everything to do with the enamel on his teeth never quite coming in.

So, while we are waiting for the teeth to "go to sleep".  One of the hygienists comes by and says, "Did he see him?"  Meaning the Wonderkid see someone.  Well, I had no idea what she was talking about so she encourages us to look out and who is standing at the check out desk but SANTA.  I mean honest to goodness Santa.  He wasn't wearing the suit and boots but he had the belly and the long white hair and the beard.  Well, the Wonderkid thought that was pretty cool so we talked to him for a minute.  Santa told him that he comes to our dentist because he is very good and doesn't ever hurt you and he is one of the best.  When asked why he doesn't go to the elf dentist he said that elf is very busy taking care of the other elves' teeth and he taught our dentist how to be a dentist. Santa then explained that since he is 400 years old he needs to take very good care of his teeth.

Finally, the Wonderkid looks at me and says, "Can I tell him what I want for Christmas?"  I said, "yes" and he proceeded to explain he wants a skateboard.  Santa didn't miss a beat.  He said he would bring him one but he needs to promise to wear his helmet and knee/elbow pads.

The Wonderkid has been telling everyone who he saw at the dentist's office.  He doesn't mention the cavities being filled or any of the other parts, just that he was able to see Santa.

Thanks for stopping over.  I hope to see you again soon.  I've a number of projects to share but I just can't seem to get past the laundry, recycling, dishes, cabinets that need cleaning and now painting, etc.  Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Bugaboo Christmas in July Cards

Hello Friends -

Today I have four cards for you.  I know, you don't see anything for weeks and now I'm showing you four cards in one post, and they are all Christmas cards.  If you remember at the beginning of the week, I showed you my non-traditional colors Christmas card.  The rest of the challenge week included:

1.  A card with this digi

2.  A card with this sketch

3.  A card with snow

4.  Anything goes card

Here are my cards:

First, the card using the digi provided.

I'm not certain what is going on with my light box but this turned out very dark.  I will try to redo the picture tomorrow.  Here is the inside.

And then, the card using the sketch.

I think this turned out nice and clean.  I like the lines are simple but it is still pleasant to look at.  The sketch had the bottom section plain but I just couldn't leave it that way so I added the sentiment.

After the sketch the challenge was something using the theme snow.  I love this Eggbert digi.

 and a close-up of Eggbert.

Finally, I think this is my favorite of the day.

The sentiment is computer generated.  It says "I've got the mistletoe".  I think this could be a fun card to send to your sweetie.

I'll try to get you more details and links tomorrow.  Have a great day.

Bugaboo Joy Christmas Card

Hello Friends -

Merry Christmas in July.  I'm sure most of you aren't too surprised to see another Christmas Card but you may be sick of them very soon.  My pals over at Bugaboo Stamps are celebrating Christmas in July with a week long challenge (the challenge site is Catch The Bug).  This one is a card with non-traditional colors.  I thought brown was something I could work with and would be non-traditional.

The digi stamp can be found here.

I decided this needed a unique fold so I made a "Joy Card".  I don't know why it is called a Joy Fold but there you go.  You can find a tutorial on making this card here on the Splitcoast Stamper site.  It seemed appropo to use a Joy Fold with the Joy stamp.

Here it is completely open.

I used my iTop to make the brad.  I'm not entirely in love with the way it came out (it seems a bit wonky) but I like the concept.  I may go back and redo the brad.

The paper is from the Tim Holtz Seasonal stack.  I fussy cut out the page of music for Joy to the World.  Then I used one of my Tim Holtz Sizzix texture fades with music.  I was in quite a mood to do things up the Tim Holtz way.  I also swiped some Distress Inks over the embossing, the edges of the pattern paper and the edges of the card base.

What do you think?  Is the digi image lost with all the other music "stuff" or does it come together with the "Joy" theme?  As long as life doesn't get in the way, I should be back soon with some more Christmas cards.

A Funny Card for the Ladies of Humbug Hall

Hello Friends -

This week the Ladies of Humbug Hall (Bah! Humbug! Christmas Challenges) have asked for a Christmas card to make you giggle.  Now, they had a couple of real doozies so I was feeling a bit intimidated.  What card could I make that would have folks giggling?  With the traveling and all, I almost didn't do one but then, I remembered all the great digis from Bugaboo Stamps.  Well, I did a bit of mix and matching (I always was a fan of those Garanimals).  The sentiment is from one of the Stella images while the image of Fanny didn't have a sentiment.

Here is a close-up of the sentiment/tag.

and the image of Fanny.  She is pop dotted because I would have never gotten her to lie flat on top of that ribbon.  You can't exactly see it in this shot but I added Stickles to the bulbs and her earrings for a bit of sparkle.

I found this new (new to me) Christmas Card Challenge site which also had the theme of funny cards.

I wanted to leave you with some more artwork from our trip.  On our way home from Ohio we stopped in Berea, KY.  If you've never visited Berea, it is well worth a visit, especially if you are a fan of arts and crafts (which I'm guessing you are if you are still reading this blog).  Here is a bit of the history of Berea, and a little bit about the school.  Many people know of their strong Arts and Crafts programs but Berea College is a liberal arts school with many majors besides arts and crafts.

You have already seen my fascination with outdoor sculptures.  I'm especially intrigued by the sculptures where an entire town/city has a series of sculptured all with the same base but each decorated for the artist or the organization commissioning the artwork.

In Berea it is hands.  Here are a few of the ones we saw.

The Hand of the Creator

Mano a Mano with Wonderkid

Gone Fishing

These photos are courtesy of the Berea Tourism Office.

A Bird in the Hand

Power of Make Belief

We Make You Kindly

Do you have a favorite outdoor sculpture?  Anything like this in your city or area?  I'd love to know about it.

While we were gone every leaf in the neighborhood arrived.  I'll take some pictures tomorrow as it is quite a difference from my pictures just a week ago.

Hello Friends -

I have a couple of quick posts for you this week.  The Wonderkid is on spring break and we are headed to ...
No, it isn't Disney, or even Florida, or even the beach.  The Wonderkid and I are going to beautiful sunny snowy Ohio.  When I traveled for work all the time I would complain about the fact that I was sent North (colder part of the country) in the winter and South (hotter part of the country) in the summer.  So, now that I control my travel a bit more what do I do, I go North when everyone else in the world is going South.

And, Ohio, dion't get me started.  If it wasn't the homeland I certainly wouldn't spend a serious amount of time in Columbus.  However, when Granny is 93 and still kick around with most of her marbles, you go where she is and don't complain.  It warms my heart for the Wonderkid to spend time with his Great-Grandmother and you want to see someone that thinks he is a WONDERKID!!! Watch out world, Granny will be telling you about her genius Great Grandson.

All of this is the long way of telling you I had to hurry to get my crafting in before we start the long trek north.  Did I mention I had to take my winter coat out of storage?  I put it away thinking I was done with winter, I forgot about this little excursion.

A couple of things about this card.  Number One, the image is from Bugaboo Stamps.  Isn't he a cutey?  Now, do you think people will get hung up on the fact that he is an Easter turtle?  Who ever said an Easter bunny makes any sense, anyway?  And for my friends North of the Boarder (meaning Canada not Tennessee) she has this little guy with a Canadian flag and Maple leaf on his shell.

Number two, what do you think of those buttons?

These are the ones I'm talking about.  Aren't they cute?  So, I've been eyeing a little gizmo from Epiphany Crafts.  It will allow you to make a button with any cardstock backing you choose.  I think I'll do a product review after I've played with it a bit more but so far, I'm having fun.  Here is a link to find them.  My Archivers was selling them when I went in this week.  They were also demoing them.  I had looked all over for a place to buy them and was still doing a price comparison when they were staring me in the face and I had my 40% off coupon.  How could I pass them up.

Finally, I cracked my stash of Creative Charms open, again.  The butterfly is one of the many ones I keep buying and then saving because they are just so cute.

Well, I just went to check on the link for this little gem and didn't notice they changed the day their challenge is due.  It normally goes through Saturday morning but this week it was only until Friday.  Oh well, thems the breaks.  You still get to see a fun green card.  (The challenge was monocromatic and three buttons).

I'm curious, how do you start your creations?  Do you begin with a sketch, challenge, picture, paper, color or do you have a final goal and work from there?

Bugaboo Green Sketch Challenge

I'm still making St. Patrick's Day cards.  I love St. Pat's Day.  I don't drink beer, and especially not green beer but it is the day before my birthday so as a much younger adult I would go out for St. Pats and just continue the celebration into my birthday.  My brother is the same way about New Year's Eve, his birthday.  

After I made these cards and started writing the post, it occurred to me that they aren't predominantly green.  They have green in them but that certainly isn't the main color. So, I don't know if they will be "acceptable" for the Bugaboo Challenge but I can't wait to send them to a couple of friends.  I think they'll love them.

Here is the sketch they asked us to use.

For the yellow one I turned it on its side.  

I also embossed the yellow card topper with a brocade 5 x 7 Cuttlebug folder.  The images and mats on each of the cards have been cut using a Nestability Labels Eight.  I think the colors came together perfectly.  What do you think?

Here is the other card. 

This one reminded me of a cross between Mardi Gras and St. Pat's.  Given how late Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday and Lent are this year, it seemed like a fitting color choice.  I love this image from Bugaboo.  I have a few of the other St. Pat's images on my coloring tray.  I'm hoping to get them done very soon.  

Here is the sentiment on the inside of each.  It has a good bit of detail.  Don't adjust your set, that is not a smudge it is designed to look that way.  I'm thinking about stamping this with embossing powder and using it as my Facebook picture on St. Pat's Day.

I have a couple of cool things coming up and hopefully I'll have something to show from my Teresa Collin's class.

Bugaboo Stamps Get Well Challenge

It wasn't that long ago when I thought coloring a digi was the hardest part of making the card.  Today, it was the easiest and the card part was the hardest.  I just couldn't get the cards to come together the way I wanted.  I think I might need to work on the sizing of my images. 

Anyway, the challenge was a get well card.  I have two for today.  Both of them use Bugaboo Digi Stamps.  I must say, I love coloring these stamps.  They are easy even for someone with a heavy hand like me.  The sentiment sold with this stamp said something about coffee but  I thought she looked a bit ill.  I used a rubber stamp for the sentiment, it says, "feeling under the weather?"

Here is a close-up the digi and the sentiment.  Can you believe I used pink, again?  I don't like pink but sometimes it feels like an easy color to use.  I also think I can send pink cards to lots of folks.

Here is the other card I made:

The sentiment that came with this card said, "I'm sorry".  I think he looks sad and would be sad to know you were ill.  I was trying to tie the colors of his shirt in with the sentiment block and the frame of the digi.  I feel like it needs something else.  Any thoughts?  I couldn't think of any embossing folders that would work with the rest of the card.  I looked at some design paper for a card topper but nothing in my stash struck my fancy.  I have three more colored images similar to this one (same colors just slightly different hair) so I need some ideas before I put those cards together.

 The dimensions of the little boy card is 5 x 7 and the woman is 4 1/4 x 5 1/2.  If you get a chance, check out all of the wonderful submissions for the challenge. I'm going to go look now, I'm guessing I'll be a bit embarrassed to even show these cards but if folks will give me ideas on what to do to make them better, it will be worth a bit of embarrassment.

I have a couple of very cool projects coming up and two challenging challenges (shaker cards and pop up cards).  Check in tomorrow and I may have a better Bugaboo digi project for another challenge blog.

St. Patrick's Day Card

I knew I wanted to take part in the Catch the Bug Challenge and the Cuttlebug Spot Challenge.  Normally, that would mean two cards for me but I did something unusual for me, I combined the challenges.  I know lots of folks combine challenges all the time but I normally like to focus on one challenge at a time.  For me, the point is to be inspired.

After being frustrated by Paul Ford's choice of ATC's as a challenge on Catch the Bug, I found an ATC would have been just about perfect for this card.  In the end, my image was a little smaller than an ATC (only 2 inches by 3 inches).

Here is the card open.

I love gate fold cards.  I've never made one this way, but I really thought this was fun.  It is fairly plain (the image seemed to argue for less as opposed to more) but you should see some of the incredible cards at the Cuttlebug spot.  I'm always in awe of Donna Mundinger's cards (Popsicle Toes) but check out her incredible card which is all the more amazing because I don't normally think of this as her "style".

Now that I sent you to a ton of other blogs, lets talk about my sweet little card.  I used my cuttlebug to emboss the green panels on the front.  I choose the Spots and Dots folder.  The image and sentiment were cut out using the Deckled Nestabilities in my Cuttlebug.

This is one of the many turtles I colored.  I think he will find his way onto a similar card.  I find that the best way for me to end up with an image I'm happy with is to color a few and see what works.  On this image I used a lighter green and almost no shading.  If you look at the image I used in the final card, the turtle is a brighter green.

Don't you love this turtle?  If you are interested in buying him for St. Pat's or many other holidays, you can purchase him here.  Jodie has everything from Halloween to Canada Day with this turtle.  She also has a sweet little dragon as a freebie this week.  I'm still thinking about what I want to do with him.  You should check him out.  I'm really loving digis.

Thank you for checking out my cards.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend.  I'm hoping I'll be back with a few more cards this weekend (although the weather here argues for being outside -- it was 70 degrees yesterday).

Bugaboo Digi ATC

Have I mentioned how much I hate the color pink?  Well, these are pink, that is for certain.

I'm not certain I'm made for ATC's.  For one thing they really are very small.  It took everything I had to be able to stay inside the lines on my coloring.  I also hated cutting off this little Skelekinz' boots but I think it looks better on the ATC that way than this...

The one in the middle has all of the boots where as the ones on either side have the boots cut off.  If you want to purchase this little cutie, you can find her here.  I used some BRIGHT pink paper from my stash for the base of the ATC.  I cut the stamp out using a Large Deckled Rectangles from Spellbinders.  I thought it had the right feel for the Skelekinz.  I used gradient pink gems from Creative Charms on the bottom of each ATC.  They range from clear to three shades of pink. 

Here is a close-up of the ATC.  In this picture you can see the embossing I did with my new cuttlebug folder, Love is In The Air.  I bought it at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon.  I love the fact it has 3 embossing folders 5 x 7. 

Here are two of them a little closer.  The one on the right has no embossing.  The one on the left is embossed but the boots are cut off.

Bah! Humbug! Update and Bugaboo Card

I received a lovely comment from Popsicle Toes (Donna is one of my favorite bloggers.  She does the most incredible work and thrills me on a regular basis.  If you haven't checked out her blog you can find it here).  I picked it up via email and she congratulated me on something with Bah! Humbug! but I couldn't tell what it was because I was working all day.  Well, when I arrived back to my computer and checked my reader list I found this lovely post (and surprise) from the wonderful ladies at Bah! Humbug! Manor.  Can you believe they were nice enough to get me a treat?

Here is the post where they show a picture of the most gorgeous Christmas cracker I've ever laid eyes on.  If you have a chance, you can still join the challenge for this week (make something with a Christmas Cracker).

In addition, I have found a place to purchase Cracker Snaps (I guess that is what they call the part on the inside that makes the popping sound).  It seems wrong to buy them here in the states but I may need to break down and do it.  For anyone interested here is the link and this is a picture of the page

That looks about right for what it seems like our crackers had on the inside.  Some of the sites I saw that talked about how to make them suggested using the champagne cork type popper that folks have around New Years.  It seems like that would be rather large for a cracker.  I like these much better.

I also finished a card last night for the Bugaboo Challenge.  I had hoped to create more projects for their birthday bash but it just didn't work out.  I realized once I started working on this card that when the challenge is all one color it really requires a person to work.  I rely on the different colors to carry the card which is impossible to do when you have just white (or almost all white).  It means the embossing, cuts and other items need to be spot on.  This isn't as good as I might want but I think it is a decent card.  I must say I love the Bugaboo digis.  They are very easy to work with, even for a newbie colorer like me.

This version has almost no color.  I inked the outside of the bottom layer (I used two Nestabilities to cut out the digi and to give the card some depth).  I colored the hearts in her hair and on her arrow.  I also colored her hair but that is it.  I embossed the card with tiny hearts (It is a cuttlebug folder with little hearts just like Swiss Dots, I can't find the name anywhere).

I thought this was just a little bit too plain so I also did one card with her dress colored in.

Finally, I have a picture of the side view. I love the amount of depth the pop dots give this card.  I think it is what makes the card work, otherwise it felt far too plain.

The Wonderkid loves rhyming words so I got a real kick out of the sentiment that came with this digi.  It says, "Ever notice cupid and stupid rhyme?"  Gotta love it.

Bugaboo Birthday Bash - Place Holder

Here are a couple of cards I did for the Bugaboo Birthday Bash.  They turned 1 this last week.  I wanted to play along with all 5 challenges but between work and home and everything else I was only able to complete two cards, and even those were close.

The first card is for their Monday challenge, just blue and white.  In retrospect, I should have made the bird bigger.  I used a cuttlebug embossing folder (I think it is called sledding something) and I added a little snowflake brad.  The top just looked empty to me.

Here is a close-up of the bird.  I still only have my 20 pens so I'm limited in what I can do (luckily I have the blue pens so I was able to do this card.)

This card came out better than I was expecting.  It was based on a sketch (something I never use, normally) and I couldn't decide what sentiment to add until I saw one of the ones I had from My Pink Stamper.  I think this works wonderfully.  The little boy bug reminds me of the Wonderkid (part of the reason I was having trouble getting things posted this morning).

Here is a closer shot of him.

So, what do you think?  Don't you love the Bugaboo stamps?  One of the prizes they were giving away is a chance to design some stamps with the owner/designer.  I thought more little boy stamps would be fun.  Things in the line of this little guy.

OK, so I'm expecting a busy week next week but I've got a couple of project I want to show you.  I may start on one right now.