The Pink Elephant Challenge #21

Can you believe that we are on challenge 21 at The Pink Elephant???
We are having way too much fun and we would love to see you play along with us.

This week, our challenge is to use your favorite colors. How easy is that?!?!?! I love challenges that are no-brainers. lol

DRS Stamps is our sponsor this week....be sure to check out the awesome prize that one randomly drawn participant is going to win!! Not only were they generous with their prize, but they also sent each of the TPE designers an adorable image and sentiment stamp! So, a huge thanks goes out to DRS from all of us at The Pink Elephant!! Be sure to drop by and check out their stamps. They have a wide variety to choose from. And you Dustin Pike fans can get some super cute stamps that were created by him!!! That is what I used for my challenge card. I just love the jungle animals he drew for DRS!!!

I have to say that even though using YOUR OWN favorite colors is an easy challenge, I have way too many favorites!! I love all colors, so it was tough for me to decide. I have three favorite color combos that I like to use though: pink/green/brown, red/turqoise/white and turqoise/olive green/brown. I couldn't decide, so I looked through my PP and found the circle one that reminded me of the giraffe's spots and it happened to be one of my fav color combos!!!

Be sure to check out what all of the other TPE designers made using the DRS Stamps. And don't forget to play along. We'd love to have you.

Thanks again to DRS stamps for sponsoring our challenge this week and to all of you who take the time to stop by and show me some love :)

Artistic Outpost - Weathervane

Hi everyone! It's Saturday and that means I get tomorrow off! YAY!!

I tried to share this card on Wednesday, but blogger was hating me!! I got a few things to upload, but this card just would not cooperate. So, I figured that rather than get angry with the computer, I would try again another day. Well, today is the first day that things are working right on blogger for me. I have no idea what the issue was, but it is fixed now.

I made this card using the Home plate from Artistic Outpost.

I think this is probably one of my favorite plates. I seem to use it alot. I also LOVE this weathervane image. The quote is wonderful and so true!! I added some white accents to the stamped image with Prismacolor pencils. I just love how they look on kraft cardstock!!!

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Follow Your Dreams

One more thing for me to share today...

I wanted to play around with this adorable image from Fred She Said. I tried to color her with Twinkling H2Os, but I had her printed on my matte image paper. Next time, I will be sure to print her on white cardstock or watercolor paper. The paint didn't blend like it should on this paper. But, I still thought she was cute and I wanted to make something with her. So, I made a quick little ATC. I put the butterfly on foam tape, stamped the sentiment (PSX) and did some doodling around the edges and for the flight path. Pretty simple...

I have another card to share, but blogger hates me today and is giving me fits about uploading. Fingers crossed, I will be able to do the next post!!! Have a great evening and thanks for stopping by!

Happy Wednesday!!

Hey everyone!! I had a day off today and decided I needed to have some playtime!! It has been too long since I came in here and created anything. I got these super cute Shy Bear stamps from I Brake For Stamps and just HAD to ink a couple up!! Aren't they sweet?? I didn't make anything overly elaborate with them, but I sure did have fun coloring them!!

There are a ton of these little Shy Bear images. I do believe there is one for every occassion. Be sure to check back soon for even more examples and head over to I Brake For Stamps and get your own!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a creatively wonderful rest of the week!

The Pink Elephant Challenge #20

Holy Cow!! Where has the time gone?? It seems like just yesterday, we were starting up a fun challenge blog and trying to come up with names, etc. Now...we are already on challenge TWENTY?!?! Yep, that's right, we are starting this week at challenge #20 and it is a great using one of Carol Houghton's fantastic sketches. Thanks so much Carol!!!

AND

this challenge is sponsored by Unity Stamps!! They generously supplied each one of us with a stamp set to use for this challenge and are donating a gift certificate to one lucky, randomly drawn participant!! I can't tell you how much we appreciate our sponsors and all that they do for us!! So thank you to Unity Stamps!!!

Here is my card for this challenge:

I just adore this hot air balloon set!!! I had so much fun paper piecing it to give it a quilted look! I am a bit upset that the sentiment looks so funny. I have NO idea why it looks so pixelated and blurry. It didn't look like that when I resized and added my watermark. I don't have time to retake the photo now, so just image that nice and crisp. lol!!!

I have to be honest and tell you all that I originally worked so hard with this stamp set and made a super cute birthday card....only to realize....that it was a sketch challenge! lol I guess I got in a zone, started working and forgot about what the actual challenge was!! So, I have a second card that I would like to share with all of you. I love this card!!! I am soooooo glad that I checked my worklist before sending Lori my card for this challenge though! Otherwise, I wouldn't have gotten one done using the sketch!!!

I am off to work for this whole week because another person is on vacation so I have to fill in. I will love the paycheck, but am not enjoying the idea of working everyday!! lol I am such a wimp!!! Hope you all have a WONDERFUL week. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Reminisce...

Quick post today.

Have lots of art to create today and then its back to my other job tomorrow.

I just love this car from I Brake For Stamps. Looking at it now, I should have made this card into a Father's Day one. I guess I need to make another now. I know my dh would love it for Father's Day! The car and the compass thingie (can't remember the correct name for it now lol) are both from IBFS. The car is stamped and embossed and then colored with Distress Inks. I did the 'reminisce' with a traditional label maker and a strip of cardstock, rather than the tape that you normally use with it. Then, I lightly rubbed white ink over the raised letters to make them pop. The photo corners are done by inking with Versamark and then embossing with Distress EP in Vintage Photo. I thought it really makes them look rusty to match the key.

Thanks so much to all of you who stop by, take the time to comment and follow my blog. You have no idea how much it means to me to know you enjoy my creations!!

The Pink Elephant Challenge #19

Hey everyone!!

It's Monday and that means another fun challenge over at The Pink Elephant!

This week, we want to see wedding themed creations! Anything suitable for a wedding qualifies. So be sure to stop by and play along!!

Here is my creation for the challenge:

Just a quick and simple card. I love all wedding cards that are black and white with a touch of red. I guess they just seem very elegant to me. Plus they work for any type of wedding....doesn't matter if the wedding is very formal or if it is a more casual one.

Be sure to stop by TPE to see the other creations by the design team and enter the challenge yourself. There is always a great prize for one randomly chosen person and also our Hall of Fame and Top 5!!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a creatively wonderful week!

Blog Award!!

Okay, I seriously promise that this will be my LAST post today!! lol I just didn't want to get back to work for the week and forget to post this!!! I still haven't fulfilled the requirements of this award when Dawn and Libby gave it to me, so I am going to do it now to cover them too!

My friend and co dt member of Artistic Outpost, Debby, gave me this award and I truly appreciate her thinking of me!! Please do stop by her blog and show her some love! She creates beautiful things and has a great blog!!

Now, along with this award comes duties. I must list 10 things about myself and then pass it on to 7 others. Oh boy....lol Here goes....

1. I am a tad bit OCD. I like things to be orderly and I tend to obsess about it.

2. I love Elvis...actually some may say I am a bit obsessed with Elvis. lol

3. I love the smell of fress cut grass and CLEAN babies.

4. I hate spiders, mice and anything else that is little and sneaks up on me.

5. I wish I was still in my 20s.

6. I love my dh more than I ever imagined I could love a man.

7. I hate anything touching my feet...don't even think about playing footsie with me!

8. I love to make people laugh. I am such a clown!

9. I live in shorts and flip flops all summer long

10. My kids are my life...everything I do is because of them.

Here are the 7 bloggers I am giving this to:

1. Wendy Pettifer

2. Cindy Haffner

3. Donalda Cox

4. Frances Byrne

5. Debi Wind

6. Lisa Somerville

7. Joni (aka Chocolate)

There are a gazillion more that I would love to give this to, but rules is rules!

Thanks so much to Dawn, Libby and Debby for bestowing this wonderful award on me!

Birthday Mermaid

Whew!! I am back for ONE more post today!! Can you tell that I am REALLY enjoying having a day off?? I miss creating everyday, but it is nice to know that when I have a day off, I still feel like playing!

I had this Fred She Said image already printed off and she was screaming for me to pretty her up!! I colored her skin and hair with Prismas/Gamsol. But, I wanted to play with something different too. I seem to be always grabbing for the Prismas lately and my other fun things are feeling neglected. So, I colored her tail in with purple, blue and lime Stickles. I just randomly put blobs of the three colors down and then blended them around with a paintbrush. For the fins, I colored directly from the bottle with the blue and lime. For her bodice, I pulled out my Glaze pens and colored it purple. While it was tacky, I took the pen and stippled into the glaze to create a textured look. Finally, I colored the star in her hair with yellow Stickles. Hard to get a photo of the bodice, tail and fins, but here is a closeup that might help see the sparkle and texture.

For the card, I embossed the background, leaving about 1.5" at the bottom to stamp and emboss the sentiment. Tied a ribbon around to cover the line and then layered it onto a white card. Added Emma with pop dots.

Materials: PAPER: WorldWin Papers STAMPS: Emma the Mermaid (Fred She Said) INK: Versamark (Tsukineko) White embossing powder (Ranger) OTHER: Prismas/Gamsol, Stickles-lime, purple, blue, yellow (Ranger), Glaze pens (Sakura), Tiny Bubbles embossing folder (ProvoCraft), Ribbon, Pop Dots

Thanks for stopping by again today! Have a creatively wonderful evening!

Flowers Say Hello...

Woohoo....it's my day off this week and my kids decided they wanted to go up to the edge of our woods and build a clubhouse (well...make an area that they could hang out in lol), so I took the opportunity to play in my studio!

My friend Dawn has some adorable digis on her blog and I just had to play around with at least one of them today. It feels so good to make a card just because!! Dawn has created three different bird images and an adorable giraffe, so be sure to stop over and give her some love!! If you download her digis, make something with them and share a link with her so she will be inspired to draw more!!!

Here is what I made using Dawn's image:I decided to use this sweet birdie with a flower image. I thought that it had the sweetest, most innocent look on its face. I colored her with Prismas and Gamsol. It is just a quick and easy card, but it sure was fun to do something that didn't require alot of brainpower since work exhausts my brain!! lol I do have to say that the buttons and ribbon are the same color and the bird and the plum cardstock are the same color...they just didn't photograph that way. I hate when that happens because I am such a stickler for matching colors!!! :)
Materials: PAPER: WorldWin Papers STAMPS: BirdFlower (Dawn's Digi), Sentiment (Hero Arts) INK: India Ink Black (Stewart Superior) OTHER: Prismacolor Pencils/Gamsol, Bloom Dots embossing folder (ProvoCraft), Nestabilities: Rectangle, Scalloped Rectangle, Square, Scalloped Square (Spellbinders), Ribbon, Buttons

Thanks for stopping by!! Have a creatively wonderful day!

Carry Your Childhood...

Hey Everyone!

I am starting to get into the swing of things with my new job. It is a tough balance between working and doing the things you love. I don't want to neglect my family or my love of art just because I have a job. For the first week or so, I thought that I would have to sacrifice something (and it would be my art...not my kids lol), but I am starting to get into a habit of working way ahead when I have time and scheduling my posts. Hopefully, I will get into a routine and will still be able to enjoy all that my life has to offer!!

So, that brings me to this card I made with Artistic Outpost stamps. I adore all of their stamps. The retro feel of them just makes me happy. I used the Playtime plate for this one. The fun toys of our childhood and the wonderful phrases just make me all warm and fuzzy!!

I chose to use the soft green and peach because they just seemd retro to me. They remind me of the color of alot of the rooms in my house growing up. I swear my mother used every shade of green she could find and this shade was our bathroom! lol So, just a fun card to make me think about the carefree days of childhood!

Materials: PAPER: WorldWin STAMPS: Playtime (Artistic Outpost) INK:Versafine-Onyx Black (Tsukineko), Fresco-Mediterranean Tide, Golden Partchment (Stampa Rosa) OTHER: Ribbon, Foam tape

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a creatively wonderful day!

It's Such a Girl Thing....

I saw this sentiment stamp and HAD to have it. I thought it worked wonderfully with the adorable image of the little girls. Both images are from I Brake For Stamps...aren't they fabulous?My attempt as a fancy bow failed miserably, but hey...at least I tried, right? lol Just a quick and easy card. It was fun to do a card with alot of white space...that isn't normally my style.

Materials: PAPER: WorldWin Paper STAMPS: Girls, Sentiment (I Brake For Stamps) INKS: Versafine - Onyx Black (Tsukineko) OTHER: Prismacolor Pencils/Gamsol, Textile & Swiss Dots embossing folders, ribbon, buttons

Thanks for stopping by! Have a creatively wonderful day!

The Pink Elephant Challenge #18

Hey Everyone!

It's time for another fun challenge at The Pink Elephant!

This week was are having a color challenge.

Pink, Chocolate Brown and White are what we want to see!!

The sponsor for this challenge is The Greeting Farm. She generously donated digital images for the TPE design team to use in our samples AND she is giving away Grad Ian and Anya Digis to one lucky person who plays along with us! How cool is that?!?!

I took the opportunity to create one of the MANY graduation cards I need to make this year. I have alot of family graduating and TGF grad digis are the perfect image for all those cards I need to make. This was a super simple card. I just colored in Grad Anya with Prismas and cut her out. I cut out some circles with my Nesties, but I needed a bigger circle for Anya, so I used my circle cutter for that one. The year is from a 4x8 alpha die.

Materials: PAPER: Cascata, Colormates (WorldWin) STAMPS: Grad Anya Digi (The Greeting Farm) INK: Colorbox Pigment-Pink (Clearsnap) OTHER: Prismacolor Pencils/Gamsol, Ribbon, Pop Dots, 4x8 Alpha Die-Chocolate (Quickutz), Nestabilities-circles, scalloped circles (Spellbinders), Circle Cutter (Fiskars), Swiss Dots embossing folder

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check out what the rest of the TPE dt created this week and don't forget to drop by The Greeting Farm!

Have a creatively wonderful week!

Fred She Said DT!!

I have such exciting news!! I made the Fred She Said DT!! She has some amazingly fun digital stamps that you have to check out! The flowers are amazing and the Emmas are so sweet! I love that they come in black & white AND colored for you. That is wonderful when you need a super quick card or you aren't a fan of coloring images!!

Here are a couple of cards I made today using FSS images:

This one uses the Emma Mermaid and Friends Set. There are a TON of images in this set. I will use Emma later, but this fishie w/ balloons and seahorse were screaming to be colored. I wanted to make a super bright and funky colored card, so I used my Prismas to color them in. Then, I cut out the seahorse and attached him to the card with foam tape so he was slightly lifted up. They are ready to PARTAY!!
Materials: PAPER: WorldWin Paper STAMPS: Fishie and Seahorse (Fred She Said), sentiments (Inque Boutique) INK: Versafine-Onyx Black , Versamagic-Plumeria (Tsukineko) OTHER: Prismacolor Pencils/Gamsol, Tiny Bubbles embossing folder, Foam Tape

This one uses the Emma and Butterfly digi. Isn't she so sweet? I colored her with Prismas as well. Pretty simple card, but it was fun to color and create!

Materials: PAPER: WorldWin Paper STAMPS: Emma (Fred She Said) INK: Colorbox Pigment-Purple, Turqoise (Clearsnap) OTHER: Prismacolor Pencils/Gamsol, Floral Screen embossing folder, Nestabilities-Ovals (Spellbinders), 4x8 Alpha Die-Chocolate (Quickutz)

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check out Fred She Said and tell Tracey that I sent ya!!

Have a creatively wonderful day!

An Award!!

I feel terrible. I have been so worn out from re-entering the workforce, that I didn't have the ambition to thank two wonderful ladies for bestowing this award upon me!! I am so sorry girls!!

Libby and Dawn both gave me this super cool award on the same day. Be sure to check out their blogs. They are both incredible artists and would love for you to stop by! I know I need to pass it on to others and I will. But, I am super busy today trying to catch up with all of my art stuff. I just wanted to take a few minutes to thank these wonderful ladies for thinking of me when they received this award!

Have a creatively wonderful day!

The Pink Elephant Challenge #17

Hey Everyone!!

It's Monday and you all know what that means!! Yep...it's time for another fun challenge at The Pink Elephant! This week is a recipe challenge. You must use 3 buttons, 2 layers and 1 sentiment.

Here is the card I came up with:

It's my interpretation anyways. I originally only had the green PP and the paper with the stamped image (2 layers beyond the base card). But, the sentiment HAD to go somewhere. lol So, I figured that since the sentiment is on the same 'plane' as the stamped image layer, it was still only 2 layers!! Also, I had zero buttons that worked with this card's colors, so I cut some buttons from the green PP using my Sizzix die. I know that this makes more layers, but pretend they are real buttons!! Now, about this sweet little girl image. Isn't she cute? I got her from I Brake For Stamps. I just knew she would be fun to color in and her gift bag screams to be paper pieced! I am going to paper piece her clothes next time I use her. I colored her with Prismacolor pencils and use the green PP for her gift bag.

Materials: PAPER: WorldWin cardstock, Glitter Matstack (DCWV) STAMPS: Birthday girl (I Brake For Stamps), Sentiment (Inque Boutique) INK: Versafine-Onyx Black (Tsukineko) OTHER: Prismacolor Pencils/Gamsol, Spots and Dots embossing folder (ProvoCraft), Button die (Sizzix)

Be sure to stop by The Pink Elephant and see all of the fabulous creations by our amazing dt!! We have a new design team member at TPE that I want to send a WARM welcome out to and also a wonderful guest designer!! Stop by and show 'em some love!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a creatively wonderful week!!