Friday, November 28, 2014

DP: Make Waves!


You will NOT catch this girl out doing Christmas shopping today.  Sadly I won't really have shopping opportunities because I am making the drive from Arizona to home.  But even if I weren't trapped in a very, very small car for 13 hours (did I mention that my Jetta is REALLY small?) with a cranky husband and  even crankier children ... shopping on this day is a "for-gedabout-it" moment. 

I went to Wal-Mart last year with my niece to buy a blow-up mattress because we NEEDED it for the night.  That experience alone was enough to swear me off ANY Black Friday shopping, ever. EVER.

I'm sharing another card I made for Doodle Pantry. This one uses Little Octopus which Laurie has in her "free with purchase" category.  How cute is he?  If you ever needed a reason to shop the Doodle Pantry shop, this might be it!

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

SSW2: Diane's Daydream Designs


Happy "almost" Thanksgiving!  I hope tomorrow is full of delicious food that doesn't cause you to gain an ounce.  That's what I'm hoping for at least ... I'm having a meeting with my personal trainer the Monday after Thanksgiving to "assess" my weight-loss progress.  Yikes, I could have planned THAT better!  I will just cry if I've gained any from this holiday of eating!

This week over at Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 we have a new sponsor.  It's Diane's Daydream Designs.  She promotes family-friendly, wholesome products, with many Christian themed images.  She is providing our winner with a $10 coupon to use in her store.  This week, I'm using her image: Snow Baby Love.

Since this is the last week in the month, we have a retro sketch and a twist.  To see what the designers did with this sketch previously, click here.

This week we'd like you to break out your buttons or bows to use.  The twist is that you must use both the sketch AND the twist to win.

I can't wait to see what you do with this sketch!

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Bugaboo Sketch 219


I'm supposed to be packing right now but instead I'm hiding downstairs with my red Christmas Starbucks cup, sucking down a latte.  I'm trying to de-stress before our Thanksgiving journey.  It's 26 degrees and snowing here.  I'm trying not to think about the snowy passes that stretch out between me and sunny Arizona.

Bugaboo had a fun sketch this fortnight so I had to try it.  I'm using JJ (and gave her the same red Christmas cup as I have in MY hand!)

Ugh, back to reality ... the dryer buzzer is ringing.  I'd best finish packing.

Friday, November 21, 2014

Doodle Pantry: Frosty Kisses


Still trying to perfect my CAS style for the Complete Cardmaking magazine, this card while beautiful, missed the mark on TWO counts.  It has just one extra layer but more importantly, I used the wrong Doodle Pantry set.  The image is from Snowflake Sheep,  and the sentiment is Quirky Snowmen.  I really liked this card too. {{sigh}}

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

SSW2-35: Digi-Stamp Boutique


Hi-ya all.  It's Wednesday already.

I can't believe that it's almost time to "get our jolly on."  Yikes, where is this year going?!!  Actually, I'm not gonna lie ... I'm kinda ready for it.  I've been listening to Christmas Carols already.

I'm back with another creation for Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2.  This week we're featuring the wonderful images of Digi-Stamp Boutique.  I'm using her Christmas Edwin and Hetty set.  Not sure if this is Edwin or Hetty but I *DO* know that whoever it is ... looks darling!

Sally has a wonderful sketch for us this week.  As you can see, I rotated it to fit the image better.

I used a phrase from Create with TLC to finish it up.  Paulette has free word art several days each week. 

I hope you have time to join in the fun.

Monday, November 17, 2014

Pimping Santa


I colored this guy up a few weeks ago and never used him (Sadly he was the wrong shape for that card).  But Gus is too cute NOT to use.  When I look at this card, I think of either my BIL or nephew.  One of them will be the big wiener of this one.

I used the sketch over at Seems A Little Sketchy and the theme over at Cute Card Thursday: red and green.

I have 62 Christmas cards made and I am down to just 13 more.  In the immortal words of the Little Engine that Could ... "I think I can!"

Friday, November 14, 2014

DP: Another try at just 2 layers


Here was my first attempt at the required Clean and Simple Christmas card for Complete Cardmaking, issue 53.  If you count ... there are 5 layers.  Not remotely close to the 2 that I needed.  It was cute but soooo not CAS.  What I loved about this card (besides those ridiculous googlie eyes) was Laurie's matching papers.  Each set you purchase from Doodle Pantry has images, sentiments and papers to use.  Pretty awesome, actually.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

SSW2-34: Doodle Pantry

Hello friends.

It's Wednesday so you know what that means, yep, another sketch challenge from Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2.  Are you ready for Turkey day?  I am because every day brings me closer to seeing my family in Arizona.  I'm NOT excited for the (whimper) 13 hour drive ... but, my sister is worth it.

Sally gave us a great sketch to work with this week and our sponsor is Laurie from Doodle Pantry.  This week I'm using her image: Pumpkin Pie Ants.  I love those little ants and really ... who doesn't love pie with whipped cream.  Here's a little bit more about our sponsor:

Hello, my name is Laurie. I'm just a regular Joe crafter. While trying to find digital images that met my own crafting needs, I decided to draw some of my own, as I had so many unique (weird!) ideas that I just couldn' locate elsewhere. I sincerely hope something I've done inspires you to go create something to bring a smile to someone else and hope you enjoy creating to your hearts content with some of my doodles.. ~Laurie

This week Laurie is offering a $10 voucher to her store to our winner.  We hope to see you stop by!

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

SSMIS: November


It's official ... I am freezing down in my studio.  It's sad when the thought of folding warm laundry upstairs where it is closer to the rising heat is even remotely appealing. 

But back to the creative stuff ... this month for our SSMIS club, Vickie challenged us with this retired Stampin' Up! image called "Little Boys." If you'd like to see what the rest of the gang did with this image, click here.

 I used an old sketch from Papertake Weekly and plan to enter it in their theme of: 2 Legs or 4 Legs.  This card fits since it features a bit of both.

I'm off to get a coffee to warm up.  No need to get crazy domesticated with all that laundry folding!

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Cardmaking #53

I'm published ... eep!

OK, so all I did was volunteer to make a card but hey, my card is in a magazine ... on sale right now!  I'm pretty excited.

The challenge for me was that I had to make a CAS (clean and simple) card.  For those who know me, forget about it, my cards are typically waaay over the top with layers.  So a challenge to limit myself to just 2 layers (not counting the base) was REALLY, REALLY hard.

If I'm going to be completely honest, it took me three cards to get it right.  You'll see them all during this month.  I used Doodle Pantry's Quirky Snowmen for this card.  Laurie has some great Christmas images in her shop.  And I won't even ask you to limit yourself to just two!

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

SSW2-33 ADFD


Welcome back crafty friends. It's Wednesday and time for another card to celebrate that fact. We have a new sketch over at Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 and the return of a favorite sponsor.

It's Tammy from A Day For Daisies. I used Tammy's Flower Fox Portrait.  I should probably have colored this little guy red but it reminded me sooo much of my dog, that I had to leave it white.  Not only does it LOOK like Holiday, she also has a tendency to destroy things that I love!

A Day For Daisies provides themed categories of over 1000 fun and whimsical digital images, including fairy tales and magical mermaids, cutie kids, vintage illustrations, sentiments and lovely designs for all occasions!

Website: www.adayfordaisies.com
Blog: http://adayfordaisies.blogspot.com
Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/adayfordaisies

This week's prize is a $12 credit to the ADFD store.  We'd love to see your take on our sketch.  I hope you consider playing along with us this week.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

DP Release Part Deux


Hey there.  I'm back.  Just popping in to share another card featuring some of the newly released images from Doodle Pantry.

November is officially here (25 days til' I see my sister, not that I"m counting or anything) and I'm going to admit to experiencing a mild amount of Christmas card anxiety.  I only have 56 cards made ... I need about 75 total.  I need to get ON this!

I've actually used two sets to create this little bad boy.  One is from the new release and it's called Snow Globe Gala.  It's pretty cool because the image is empty and you can fill it with whatever floats your boat.  I used Holiday Cactus to fill mine. I wanted to make a bright and fun Christmas card.

I've also used the sketch over at Technostamper.  I DID leave off the ribbon since I thought that my card was already a bit cluttered, probably too many obnoxiously bright papers!

Thanks for stopping by ...

Saturday, November 1, 2014

November Doodle Pantry Release


Happy Dia de los Muertos!!  Back where I grew up, this is the day where we honored those who are gone but not forgotten.  Since we're still in a candy coma over here, we will probably just go have Mexican food and tell funny stories about family.

Today is ALSO the first day of the month and Doodle Pantry is having its monthly release party. There are a million new sets in the store today (OK, I think there are 16 in all, but it FEELS like a million). There are some cute, cute stuff now available.  In fact, there were so many fabby sets,  I actually made 2 cards this time.  You'll see my other card tomorrow! For this card I used Zoo Critters 2.

Each month Laurie has great specials and this month is no exception.  You can easily find out about the monthly specials when you click the Specials Tab over on the Doodle Pantry blog.

This month you can get get the Fancy Pie set FREE with your purchase from November 1st through 24th.  

And, if you enter a creation using a Doodle Pantry image over on the Doodle Pantry Digital Challenge Blog you will receive the Gingerbread House Ants set absolutely free.  You will also be entered into the drawing for a $15 gift certificate to be spent in the Doodle Pantry shop.

 Hope to see you over at the Doodle Pantry store!