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Hey, all!

How are you this fine Thursday?

Thursday is my favorite day of the week,

because it's the night my writer's group meets.

We always have such a good time.

It's been a while since I've played in any challenges,

so last night I decided to visit the 

Color Throwdown blog and saw that they had their

#153rd challenge posted.

I got inspired by these colors right away.

The colors spoke "masculine" to me,

which is great, because I need to challenge myself

 to make more boyish cards.

Here's what I came up with:

I inked up an Elzybells stamp that I'd been

wanting to use, and colored him in with Copic markers.

This was my first time doing a suntan,

and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

iCopic is also having a skin tones challenge

(thanks for the head's up, Laurel!)

so I'll also be entering it over there.

These "Good Day Sunshine" papers from

My Mind's Eye just fit this image perfectly.

Hope you all have a wonderful evening!

I'm off to get some writing time in 

before the meeting tonight.

Have fun!

Guest Blogging!

Good morning, all!

I just wanted to stop in and let you know that

I'm guest blogging over at my cousin Ashley's

blog, Roja In Virginia, today.

I made a card using an Elzybells stamp,
and I tried out a new technique called "stippling"
with my Copic markers.
It came out quite pretty, I think. :o)

I'd appreciate it so much if you'd stop by

and leave Ashley some comment love.

I'll be giving out two packets of happy mail
(there's a photo posted over there)
to two random commenters, one on each blog.

I'll announce the winners here on Friday.
Have a great day!

If Raindrops Were Kisses

Happy Valentine's Day!

I've just finished up a wonderful

home-cooked meal with my hubby

of shrimp alfredo and fresh salad greens,

followed by chocolate covered strawberries.

Yum! They were so good.

I wanted to pop in and share

the Valentine I gave my hubby today.

Not thrilled about how the umbrella turned out,

but I was in a huge rush to finish in time,

so I had to accept "good enough" this go round.

I didn't have room on the outside for the sentiment,

so I just added that tiny "I heart u" in the bottom right corner

and stamped the sentiment on the inside.

It says, "If raindrops were kisses, I'd send you a storm."

Squeal! Isn't that the sweetest?

I couldn't take a pic of the inside though

because I finished it just in time to give it to him,

and had to take the photo after

 I'd already written my personal message.

Sorry! Some things are best kept secret. ;o)

I just love this sweet Elzybells image.

The company shut its doors last year,

unfortunately for me, just after I'd discovered them,

but I found some for sale at Jay Gee's Nook in Australia.

Since the Aussie dollar is about even with the US dollar

right now, the prices were really reasonable,

especially considering that these stamps are pretty scarce.

I ordered a couple, so you'll be seeing more

of them in the near future.

By the way, I just realized that this card

fits perfectly with the latest Wee Memories Challenge #43.

If you've made a valentine this week, you already qualify!

Why not head over and play along?

This might be just the opportunity you've been waiting for.

Okay, well goodnight!

Back to my Valentine's evening with my hubby!

Supplies:

cardstock: Bazzill

patterned paper: Cosmo Cricket, October Afternoon

stamps: Elzybells

ink: Tsukineko Momento Tuxedo Black

copics: lots!

ribbon: Darice

Elzybells Reindeer Peace On Earth

Hi there!

Long time no see, huh? Sorry about that.

Life has been so crazy busy, and I've had zero

time to craft -- that is, until today!

I had today off, so I decided to start my

Christmas cards. I put on some Christmas tunes,

parked my butt in the chair and set to work.

Aren't those the sweetest little reindeer ever?

They're from Elzybells. I'm so sad that I didn't

discover this wonderful company sooner -- as they

closed their doors at the end of September.

I colored them in with Copics, then added a little

glossy accents to the pudding frosting and their noses

and hoofs. Hooves? Whichever. Then I masked them

off with Inkadinkado masking paper, added another strip

to cover the bottom area for snow, then distressed the

sky with Tumbled Glass distress ink by Ranger.

I stamped my sentiment by The Paper Studio,

then used stickles to make my snow line and

snowflakes in the sky. I rounded the corners using

the We R Memory Keepers 1/4" corner chomper.

To assemble my card, I used green Bazzill

cardstock topped with two prints from the

Basic Grey Jovial 6x6 pad. So pretty!

I covered the seam with a bit of yarn from

the packaging of my last Lawn Fawn order

and popped my focal piece off with dimensionals.

I'll be entering this in the Wee Memories Challenge #31.

Go here to check out the other talented artists

and enter a card of your own!

I hope you enjoyed my first Christmas card!

I plan to be back tomorrow with some

Lawn Fawn Critters In The Snow cuteness.

Have a great night!

O, Solo Mio

Wow, can you believe another week has gone by?

I was itching to get in my craft room all last week,

but it just didn't happen. Sigh.

Sometimes life is just like that.

But I made sure to get something cranked out today!

Check it out.

I've been wanting to use my Lawn Fawn "Critters in the 'Burbs"

again for a while. These little animals are soooo cute!

I had this idea for making a "Missing You" card

with a twist, featuring a singing cat at night, a la Garfield.

Only cuter.

I found this old Cosmo Cricket sheet of paper at work

that had been in the stockroom for who knows how long.

I've never seen or heard of the collection before.

It had this kind of tapestry print, which I thought would give the

cat's fur some interesting texture and color variation.

I folded a sheet of Midnight Blue Bazzill cardstock into a

4 1/4 x 4 1/4 square card, then covered it with starry sky paper
from Frances Meyer. I trimmed a green scrap from My Mind's Eye

into fringe for grass, then ruffled it up a bit to make it look

more natural.

I needed a moon, but Lawn Fawn doesn't have a moon stamp yet,

so I used one from Elzybells, a company that I only

recently discovered -- just before they closed their doors
for good. Sad, isnt' it?
Their images are so whimsical and quirky,

very much along similar lines as Lawn Fawn, which is why

I thought the two might work together here.



To finish up I took out Harold's ABCs and spelled out
"O, Solo Mio" and drew a speach bubble around it.
I also drew three musical notes just to make it clear
that he's singing, and cut those out.

I adhered my cat, moon and sentiment with pop dots and
tied on a bit of white embroidery thread as a final touch.

I think he turned out pretty cute. :o)
Have a great night, all!