April Showers

Hi everyone! I've been getting used to my new job and then I got hit with some sort of sinus thing, so I haven't been as creative as usual!  THEN my Blogger account got hacked - nothing vicious, no one stealing my identity {the joke would be on them anyway, I'm poor!}, but they added an email address to my account and deleted my real email.  It has been a HUGE struggle to try to get my email back as the email for this blog; in fact, it still isn't correct, but I'm working on it - I suspect an April Fool's "joke" as it was compromised on 4/1/19 - ha ha ha - NOT!  However, this card is perfect for the Die Cut Diva's April challenge!  The theme this month is WATER and you can interpret that however you see fit.  We have the fabulous Altenew sponsoring us and I'll be sharing a card made with their products later in the month.  In the meantime, here is my card:

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base

Watercolor Paper {I use this}

Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black

Zig Clean Color Brush Markers
MFT BB Rain or Shine Stamps
Die-Namics BB Rain or Shine Dies
Hero Arts Ink in Soft Granite
Dimensional Dots

I began this card by adding the rain all over the card, leaving a space for the sentiment.  I literally laid the sentiment on the card and stamped the rain and the raindrops all around it so I'd be sure to leave enough room.  I also added the puddle in which my sweet girl seems to be dancing. 

Another Peek

Then I stamped the girl onto watercolor paper and colored her in.  I also stamped some clouds on a piece of white scrap, then cut out everything.  I used my Tim Holtz Platform to add the sentiment, using black ink so it would stand out.  Lastly, I added the clouds and the girl, attaching them with dimensional dots.  I am thrilled with how this card came out - I am happy with everything about this card!  I love that it's just a "thinking of you" type of card; I never have enough of them!  I hope you get your water elements out and join us for the Die Cut Diva's April Challenge - see you there! Fondly, Christi

I am entering my card in the following challenges:
Emerald Creek - M, Inspired by water, rain, etc. 
Country View Challenges - M, Easter and/or Spring
Cute Card Thursday - #576, Anything Goes
Crafty Catz Challenge - Use Your Dies

Die Cut Divas and Morgan's Artworld

Hello, crafty peeps!!  How is the month of March going for you?  We just had a MAJOR storm here in Colorado with winds up to 70 mph; some places it reached over 100!!  I hope you are getting some signs of spring where you are and, if you are in the path of the storm, get ready!  Enough weather related stuff.  Here is my card using a Morgan's Artworld digi.  Goodness do they have beautiful stamps, but I knew there was NO way I could do them justice!  Hope you like the card!

What I Used to Make my Card:
Yellow Top Fold Card
Skinny Orange Yellow Washi Tape {manufacturer unknown}
Morgan's Artworld Sunflower Image {join the FB group to purchase}
Frantic Stamper Elementals #11, Bracket Coved Label, #FRA-DIE-09468
Prismacolor Pencils
Pebbles Family Ties Paper Pad {discontinued - available at many stores}
Strathmore Bristol Paper, Series 300
Gamasol {sometimes referred to as Gamsol, readily available}
Blender Stumps {I got mine through Amazon, but readily available}

I had the image of the sunflower printed on Bristol paper and colored it in with Prismacolor pencils, blended with Gamasol using blender stumps and generally putzed around with it until I was satisfied with how the sunflower looked.  I die

Another Peek

cut yellow paper and patterned paper using the Frantic Stamper die.  I noticed the card base itself, which is really old, was sort of cracking at the top, like they sometimes do when the paper is old.  I had already attached everything to it and I like the summery yellow so I thought of a way to "save" it.  I have a pretty good collection of washi tape {that I rarely use} and I found a skinny, orangey-colored tape so I edged the entire card with that.  

So, there is my card; I hope it brings a little spring cheer to you!  You still have a while to enter the challenge at Die Cut Divas "Anything Goes" Challenge for March.  We'd LOVE to see what you have created so please be sure to enter!  Fondly, Christi

I am entering my sunflower card in the following challenges:
A Gem of a Challenge -  Anything Goes
A Bit More Time to Craft - #88, Anything Goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge - M, Anything Goes
The Rainbow Card Challenge - M, Yummy Yellow

Colour Crazy Craft Challenge - Anything Colored Goes
Creative Friday - #226, Spring is Coming!
Morgan's Artworld - M, #3, Anything Goes
The Creative Crafters - #14, Anything Goes

Some Cherub Love

Hi everyone!  While Valentine's day might be over, you can still enter your LOVE project over at Die Cut Divas!  I made my card full of Hero Arts goodness.  They are generously sponsoring the challenge this month and I'm hoping you can squeak into the challenge before it ends.  We'd LOVE to see your creations!

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
Pink Shimmer Paper
Hero Arts Heart Confetti Fancy Die, #DI348
Hero Arts Cherubs, stamps, #CM211
Hero Arts Cherubs, dies, #DI442
Die Namics Fishtail Sentiment Strips
Hero Arts Ink in Pink Tourmaline, Strawberry, Bubble Gum and Red Royal 
Colorbox Petal Ink - Alchemy {any shimmery gold will work}
White Card

I began this card by stamping a whole bunch of cherubs on some plain white card.  Them I cut them out and chose the best ones for the card.  I tend to be a hard stamper and sometimes the little details get lost when I'm using clear stamps {while Hero Arts uses photopolymer for their stamps, it honestly doesn't seem to matter what material is used to make the clear stamps; I just stamp too darn hard!} the words inside the cherubs kept getting smooshed away and I had to really be aware of the pressure I put on my stamp platform.  I have to get over that feeling that the harder I stamp the more ink will stick to the paper; it's simply not true!  It's a leftover issue from using the old wood mounted, red rubber stamps and only having one chance at making a good impression.   

Once I had all my angels cut, I stamped the sentiment.  I stamped it first in a very light pink and then over-stamped it with gold.  You can't really tell in the photo but in person it looks really cool, in my opinion.  I tried to capture the dual tone in a photo, but it didn't come across the way it looks in real life  I hope you had a fantastic Valentine's Day and I hope to see you soon! Fondly, Christi

I am entering my Cherub Love card in the following challenges:
A Blog Named Hero - M, Love is in the Air
Crafts Dreamy Mood Board Challenge - M, See Board Below
Creative Crafty Cottage - #115, M, Valentine
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Little Red Wagon - #486, Love It!
Crafting by Designs - Silhouettes
Double D Challenges - Pink & White
Shopping our Stash - February 

Crafts Dreamy Mood Board

Let's Float Away Together

Hello everyone!  While this isn't a typical Valentine's Day card, I think it would make a cute one!  I made this card for my Design Team commitment at Die Cut Diva's where the theme this month is Anything Goes with Love and we are sponsored by the ever generous, Hero Arts.  There is plenty of time to whip up a creation and you can make anything you want {as long as it fits the theme} and enter for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Hero Arts. What a fabulous prize and one I'd like to win myself!  But since I can't win, maybe YOU will!

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
White, Aqua and Dark Blue Card
Hero Arts I'm a Puffer for You stamps, #CM170
Hero Arts I'm a Puffer for You dies, #DI395
Hero Arts Wave & Sea Confetti Die, #DI523
Lawn Fawn Stitched Cloud Backdrop, Portrait, #LF1424
Die-Namics Stitched Oval STAX
Watercolor Paper {I use this}

Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black

Zig Clean Color Brush Markers

Dimensional Dots

The first in making this card was die cutting the clouds and the water; then I glued them onto the card base and set them under the tile on my desk to dry.  I use a 12" x 12" tile left over from a kitchen floor that was installed in my old house; it's fabulous for helping paper dry without warping.  I keep some wax paper on my desk and wrap the cards with it so I can either add more creations under the tile and/or the wax paper ensures any glue that's seeped out won't catch on the tile or any other cards and I also use it when I'm heat embossing.  Any stuck powder just flakes right off like the nothing!

While my background was drying, I stamped, colored, and cut out the puffer fish and the balloon basket.  I also stamped the sentiment and used the stitched oval to cut that out.  I adhered all the fish, the balloon, and the sentiment to the card using dimensional dots and the card was done!

I hope you can enter this challenge; I'd love to see your cards!  I hope you think my card is as cute as I think it is.  It's fun to make something so colorful.  It looks so cheerful and since today is cloudy and overcast as it's been for a few days here in Colorado, I needed some color.  I hope to see you soon. ~Fondly, Christi

I am entering my Let's Float Away card in the following challenges:
Creative Friday - #223, Love is in the Air
Take It, Make it - M, Anything Goes
Happy Craft Challenge - M, Anything Goes
Moo-Mania - #184, Love is in the Air
Creative Inspirations - With Love!
TTCRD - Anything Goes {week of 2/5}
Cuttlebug Mania - Be my Valentine
A Blog Named Hero - M, Crafter's Choice {entry 2}
Brown Sugar - M, #287, Love

Love has Four Paws

Good morning! I'm so glad you stopped by and I hope you like my most recent card for Die Cut Diva's.  This month's theme is Anything New and this image, provided by our sponsor, Bugaboo Digi Stamps is brand new; at least to me!  You still have a little time to enter this month and I hope to see you there!

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
Pink Card
Alcohol Ink Markers
Bugaboo Valentine Pup Set, #BUGVALPUPSET
Kat Scrappiness, Pet Sentiments dies
Darice Mini Hearts embossing folder, #1219223 {retired? Still available}
Tutti Scalloped Stitched Nesting Circles, #TUTTI-419
Altenew Enamel Dots, Red Cosmos, #ALT2591
Wink of Stella, Clear
Gelly Roll Gel Pen, Clear
Gelly Roll Gel Pen, White, #10 {I highly recommend the 3 pack}

I had printed this pup out on two different type of paper just to see if different

If you look close you can
see the sparkle on the
heart and a few around
the puppy.

paper printed better - I could see no difference.  I just grabbed the image closest to me and started to color away with my hodgepodge of alcohol ink markers; the reason I don't note the colors I've used is because I have such a mix of the markers half the time I'm not even sure which manufacturer I'm using!  The picture was colored and I added the white dots around the smaller heart {which is a different color than the large heart - I'm not sure if that is clear on your monitor}, some clear Wink of Stella around the large heart and I added some little sparkles around the dog with my clear gel pen.  

Once the image was colored I concentrated on the rest of the card.  I like the light pink background but it lacked something; the card needed more interest so I embossed the background paper with the mini hearts folder.  I trimmed that paper down and adhered it to my card base.  I then cut the dog out using the stitched scalloped circle die and cut the love out twice, using white and red card.  I inlaid the paw with the red pieces and glued that to the card.  Finally, just to add a bit more embellishing I finished off the card with three enamel dots on the lower right side; one of them blends in very well with

Another Look

the pink card so you might have to look for it.  

I am becoming more comfortable with using digital stamps and I still plan on learning how to use my alcohol markers properly.  I realized while coloring this image that alcohol ink markers use color to highlight and blend not a blender.  Might not sound like a breakthrough to you but I was happy; I felt as if I cracked one of the many secrets of using these markers.  I'd love to hear your secrets to using alcohol markers, please leave me a comment {complete with your info so I can return the blog love and visit you!} with your breakthroughs or tips and tricks, I could use all the help I can get!  As I said, there is still a bit of time to enter this Die Cut Diva's challenge, using the theme of Anything New,  but if you can't make this one there will be a brand new one tomorrow.  I hope to see you there! Fondly, Christi

I am a day late in adding my card to some challenges! I forgot I had this card scheduled :)
2 Crafty Critter Crazies - #23, M, Anything Goes w/ a Critter
Pearly Sparkles Challenge - #37, M, It's a LOVE thing
Dies R Us - #114, Use the Color Red
Color Crazy Challenge - Anything Colored Goes (week 4)
Creative Friday - #223, Love is in the Air
Cut it Up - #166, Hearts
Kat Scrappiness Challenge - Hearts

Anything New with Die Cut Diva's

Happy New Year! I hope your holiday season was wonderful!  Since it is a new year, Die Cut Diva's has chosen the January 2019 challenge to be Anything New and we are sponsored by the fabulous Bugaboo Digi's.  Bugaboo is offering a

$12 gift certificate to our winner; you can get some great digi's with that much credit!  For my Anything New entry I used these Altenew dies which are brand new and, honestly,  I probably would not have purchased them myself, so I consider them a new design for me as well.  They came in a box of stamps and dies I had bought from a designer; lots of popular designers get so much given to them and they typically design for more than one team, that they can't possibly use it all.  Now, since they can't resell the items {which I didn't know}, a few have put together charity boxes where they stuff as much product as they can into a box, sell the box, and then the proceeds go to their charity of choice.  It's a win for everyone; the designers get to clear out some stash, the buyer gets FANTASTIC deals on stuff, and the charity gets money!  

What I Used to Make My Card:
White Card Base
Grey,  White, Yellow, Red, Orange, Blue, Green & Purple Card
Altenew Shattered Triangles Die Set, #ALT2031
Die-Namics Fishtail Sentiments Strips Die
Altenew Painted Rose Stamps, #ALT1542
Wendy Vecchi Ink in Watering Can
Line Stitched Die {literally a metal line with a pattern on it - manufacturer unknown}
3mm Crystals
Orange Copic Marker

Click to make photo larger

The first step in making this card was cutting out all of the triangles.  I used the smaller set of dies and I first cut out the top of six triangles in white, which are actually the detailed dies in the picture, then cut out the bases, the solid die.  I made a "cheat" sheet of how the dies look so it would be easier for you to understand my references.  Then I cut out the colors using the detailed top again.  I chose muted primary colors - not exactly pastel but I didn't want the colors to be the focus of attention.  I wanted you to notice the intricate detailed "tops." 

Tons of Triangles

Once all the triangles were pieced together and glued, I set them aside.  I cut a panel from gray card and covered the white card base.  Then I used the fishtail die to cut a small banner.  The sentiment was stamped onto a scrap piece of white card.  I wanted some stitching on the sentiment panel but I don't have a die the right size; this is where the line dies come in handy.  I used the stitched one and put stitching on the top and bottom of the sentiment, tucked the gray banner under it, and attached those to the card.  While I was pleased with the triangles, I felt they need a little something more so I put matching gems on each one.  I didn't have an orange gem to match so I colored a clear one with an orange Copic marker.

Finally, after trying out many configurations, I decided to just glue the triangles

Another Peek

randomly onto the card.  I did keep the colors in rainbow order but I didn't place the triangles in any special manner.  I love this card and I'm already thinking of ways to use these triangles; I could cut them out in red and green for the holidays, metallics for special occasions, and tones of red for Valentine's Day!  Making this card has opened up so many possibilities for the geometric dies I have.  I'm thinking of how I could use all the shapes I have in different ways, other than just to mat images or sentiments.  

I hope your imagination has gotten a bit of a spark from this creation and you look at your geometric shape dies in a different way!  I especially hope to see your Anything New entry in this month's challenge.  It's the perfect time to try a new technique, new stamp set, and of course, new dies!  Thank you so much for stopping by!  I'd love to visit you back so be sure to leave your blog, Instagram and/or Pinterest link in your comment.  See you again soon!   Fondly, Christi

Since I posted this late, I am now entering my Card in the following challenges:
Fab 'n Funky - #422, New Beginnings {well, new product?}
City Crafter - #444, Give Piece a Chance
Cuttlebug Mania - New {new product}
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Use Something New
Make my Monday - #87, Use Words or a Sentiment
Challenge Up Your Life - #103, New {new product}
Papercraft Business Challenge - Anything Goes, option of New Beginnings 
Take It, Make It - M, Anything Goes
Cardz TV - #80, Anything Goes
Happy Little Stampers - Anything Goes w/ Dies

Little Santa with Die Cut Diva's

I made this card in September, thought I had posted it, but I can't find it.  I'm

hoping I am not writing this post up only to find that I actually DID post the card.  Enough about that; let's pretend that I didn't post it.  We would love to see you at  Die Cut Diva's December Challenge of "Winter or Winter Holidays" sponsored by the generous Di's Digi Download's - although the holidays are over, it's still winter!

I am a huge fan of Mama Elephant's "little" stamps - I have every one except the newest release!  I love coloring these little stamps and I thought having Santa peeking out of all of these circles was a fantastic way to showcase him.

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
Red Card
Authentique Festive Paper Pad, 6" x 6", #FES009 {retired but available}
Watercolor Card {I use this}
Mama Elephant Little Santa Agenda stamps
Mama Elephant Little Santa Agenda dies
Lawn Fawn Say What? Christmas Critters stamps, #LF1778
Uniquely Creative Circle Cover Plate, #UCD1801
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
Zig Clean Color Markers
Sakura Gelly Roll Pens, Stardust

I began by stamping, coloring, and cutting all the Little Santas - there are more in the set, but I chose the ones I felt would fit this card the best and set them aside.  I cut the cover die out of the patterned paper, flipped over the surrounding square and one of the circles, and attached all of the background to the red card except for the green circle.  On the green circle, I stamped the sentiment and attached it to the middle of the cover plate.  I arranged the Santas around the circles and glued them all in place.  Lastly, I attached the entire front to the red card and that to the card base.  It was an easy card to make even though I think it looks complicated.  The longest part of making the card was coloring and cutting the Santas and that only took a while because matching up those tiny die cuts with the correct Santa can be a bit time consuming.  In fact, what I finally did with the Little Cat Agenda set was I copied the dies and put them under the stamps so when I used a stamp it was easy to find the die that went with it.  The Santas are easier to find the matching dies because their shapes are distinctly different but I may end up doing that little trick to all my Little Agenda sets.

Thank you for stopping by and reading my little tutorial!  I hope I've inspired you to grab some of your stamps and dies and combine them in a way that's new to you. And don't forget, come play with us at Die Cut Diva's!!  I appreciate you taking the time to visit and hope that your holiday season has been creative and crafty!  Fondly, Christi

I am entering my Little Santa's in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes (entry #2)
Crafting by Designs - Holiday Anything Goes
Winter Wonderland - Anything Christmas Goes
CARDZ TV - #79, Anything Goes
CHNC - #418, Anything Christmas Goes
Sweet Stampers - #27, Anything Goes

Simon Says FaLaLa at Die Cut Diva's

Another holiday card - are you getting tired of seeing all of them yet?  I know

that by this time of year, especially since the holiday advertisements began right after Halloween {!?!}, I'm a bit over the songs and whatnot but I still have some holiday cheer left! I've made this card for the December Die Cut Diva's Challenge, Winter or Winter Holidays, sponsored by the lovely Di's Digi Downloads; I hope you will join us and link up your cards and/or projects, you could win a $12 voucher to the store!  The background paper I used is what inspired this card; it's so pretty and I wanted to figure out a way to showcase those intricate snowflakes.  I hope you like it!

What I Used to Make this Card:
White Card Base
Shades of Brown, Red, Vanilla, Blue, Black and Silver Glitter Cardstock
Simon Says Stamp Fa La La Stamps & Die Bundle, #Set311FL
Simon Says Stamp Picture Book Santa die, #S492
Simon Says Stamp Picture Book Deer die, #S440
Simon Says Stamp Picture Book Polar Bear die, #S526
Bo Bunny Winter Wishes 6" x 6" Paper Pad, #20917843 {discontinued but available}
DCWV Metallic Textured 4.5" x 6.5" Stack {discontinued but available}
Nuvo Crystal Drops in Ebony Black, #650N

This card looks much more complicated than it was to make.  The dies include everything you need to make the character, but I skipped trying to put the teeny, little, black eyes on some of them and used Nuvo Drops instead. The worst part is cutting with the die the numerous card stock colors you need, but even that isn't THAT bad.  I cut out all the parts and pieces of the Santa, Deer, and Polar Bear, and got to work putting them together. I have a trick I use to keep everything together when I am paper piecing like this; piece together the cuts using the wrong side of the paper and, once you assemble the cuts, add some tape.  You won't be able to see it since you're putting the tape on the side that will be attached to the card.  Plus, I use regular generic cellophane tape and the ridges the cutter makes on the tape make it easy to tear it, so you can make tape pieces to fit just about anywhere!  

The first image is the back of the deer all taped up

{the "double" antler is shadow}

And the second image is the front of the deer; you

can’t see the tape at all! 

Once my three characters were complete, I set them aside to dry overnight.

I cut the patterned background paper to fit on the A2 white card base, glued it

Another Look

on, and set the card under my tile to dry overnight.  While everything was drying, I cut "falala" out of the metallic textured paper.

I assembled the card putting the figures onto the bottom of the card and the sentiment at the top.  I like the subtle color of the sentiment and how it works so well with the patterned paper.  My eye keeps going to Santa's belt buckle and I think next time I make him, I would use a silver paper instead of the glitter but it depends on what scraps I have on hand. Why not enter your cards that have some die cuts in the Die Cut Diva's Winter and/or Winter Holiday Challenge? You could win a $12 voucher to Di's Digi Downloads and that is a bunch of digital goodness!  The challenge doesn't end until December 31, so you still have loads of time.   I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial and I hope you are making headway on your holiday cards.  I'm sure I'll be crafting my cards until the evening of the 24th!  Thanks ~ Christi

I am entering my FaLaLa card in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Warm Winter Wishes
Cardz TV - #77, Anything Goes
Creative Friday - #220,  Animal Christmas
Moving Along with the Times - Anything Christmas
Cute 'n Crafty Christmas - #1, Anything Goes
Ellibelle's Creative Wednesday - M, Snowflakes, Snowmen, Winter Wonderland
2 Crafty Critter Crazies - #21, Anything Goes with a Critter
Animal Friends Challenge - #69, Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp - Christmas Card Day
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - B is for BEAR! As in polar :)
Happy Little Stampers - Anything Goes with Dies

Girl With Balloons

It's the last day of the month and I am sharing this card I made for the Die Cut Divas November Challenge, thoughtfully sponsored by SheepSki Designs.  This month's theme is "anything goes" and you still have a bit of time to get your project in, but hurry!





Here is the card I created:

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Bristol Card
SheepSki Designs Birthday Balloons, #157
Spellbinder Nestabilities Curved Etched Rectangles, #S5-006
Various Alcohol Markers
Falling Star Background Die {Unbranded}
Baby Blue Card
Sakura Pigma Micron Black Marker in .005
Sakura Gelly Roll White Gel Pen in .05 
Small Purple Gem 

While this image was designed for a birthday card, I decided to make it an all occasion card as I don't have nearly enough "just because" cards.  As you may know, I am struggling to learn how to use alcohol ink markers successfully and I had printed this image out much smaller, thinking smaller would be easier to color.  Nope.  That was NOT the case.  It was much harder to color when it was smaller.  I did color it though, but I wasn't pleased with it at all, so I printed out the image on a bigger scale and found it to be much more relaxing to color.  I am actually proud of how I colored this digital stamp; I colored the entire thing which is something new for me.  I colored the background, the girl's skin, everything.  Being a good student, I looked up online how to properly color hair but, as usual, I didn't have the colors I needed.  I'm sure once I become more comfortable with using the markers, I will be able to improvise better with the colors I do have on hand.  I even attempted to color her eyes and give her that look that makes the images seem to actually be looking at you; again, I couldn't do that with the smaller image {I used a white Gelly Roll pen and I highly recommend buying the 3 pack which has the sizes .05, .08 and 10}. All in all, I think I did a pretty good job! 

Once the image was colored, I used the curved rectangle die to cut it out.  I found a piece of pale blue card and used an unbranded die I have of what looks like falling stars to cut it for the background.  I mounted the panel onto a white card base, and then the image onto that.  I noticed I went a bit outside the line around the ear, but I fixed that by giving her an earring made from a small flat-backed gem from my stash.  

I hope you like my colorful "anything goes" card for Die Cut Divas.  I'm so glad I am on this design team and I am getting much more comfortable with using digital images; considering about two years ago I wouldn't have touched them and really wasn't pleased that I couldn't use my Zig markers to color them.  I think I may have found a fix for that; I have an old spray can of fixative that fixes the image but you are still able to color it.  That's going to be my next experiment working with digis.  I hope you and yours had a marvelous holiday and thank you so much for stopping by. ~ Fondly, Christi

I am entering my Girl With Balloons card in the Following challenges:
CARDZTV - #76, Anything Goes
Colour Crazy - #48, Anything Goes
Cut it Up - #162, World Hello Day
CASology - #322, Girl
Word Art Wednesday - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Penny's Paper Crafting Challenge - #408, Anything Goes

Challenge Graphics

CASology

I'm With You

Hi all! I hope you had a fantastic Halloween - I know I haven't posted as much since Halloween ended; I needed some recovery time!  Well, it's a new month and that means a new challenge at Die Cut Diva's - and this month is ANYTHING GOES!  I don't know about you, but that is my favorite challenge theme! 

The sponsor for this month's challenge is SheepSki Designs; just click the name to go to the shop on Etsy, and if you win you will get your choice of 3 digi images!  Andrea is a truly talented artist.  Now, for my creation, I'm With You:

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
Alcohol Ink Markers {various manufacturers} 
Gelly Roll Stardust Pens
SheepSki Designs, Snowman Selfie, #100
Gold Card
Tutti Designs Stitched Nested Squares, #TUTTI-218
Tutti Designs Stitched Nested Rectangles, #TUTTI-217
Embossing Ink
Gold Embossing Powder 
Hero Arts Sentiment from You Are Loved, #CM171
Gold Snowflake Paper {from stash, but I think it is old, very old, Anna Griffin}
Wink of Stella in Clear

I started my card by coloring in the image with alcohol ink markers.  For those of you who use them on a regular basis, I have a question; why is it no matter what color I am using I never have the correct color to achieve the effect I want?  It's not like I want to make some crazy design.  I'd just like to highlight like I see all the "pros," but regardless if I am using blue, purple, or brown, I never seem to have the correct color to highlight.  Honestly, I think if I had every color known, I'd still be unable to color like I want to simply because I don't practice enough.  I am thinking that after the holidays, I'm going to invest some time and money and sharpen my skills.  I say that now - eh, we'll see.  

After my image was colored, I cut it and a gold frame, using the stitched nested dies.  I set the frame and image aside.  I had found the glittery gold snowflake paper in my stash, it was even cut to the size I needed, and I adhered that to my white card base.  I wanted to make the card a support card, not just a winter card, so I grabbed the You Are Loved set {and I just have to say, Hero Arts donates 100% of the proceeds of these certain "kindness" sets to various kindness charities - check them out and get more information HERE} and choose my sentiment from it.  I gold embossed the saying, cut it using the stitched rectangle die, and set it aside.  Then I mounted my Snowman Selfie on the card at an angle and placed the sentiment on the card as well.  Lastly, I decided to add some bling and I colored randomly on the hats and noses with

Another peek

the sparkly Stardust Pens.  I also used clear Wink of Stella to add a shine to the white portion of the Santa hat.  I just couldn't have that beautiful gold snowflake paper do all the sparkle work!

For readers who have been around for a while, I am still struggling with the digi images but I have come to realize that most of my angst is because I don't feel that I can color them correctly.  As you have already read, I think I have figured out a plan to remedy that.  While I am waiting to be able to devote the chunk of time and resources, I'll be watching all the free You Tube videos I can.  If you have one to recommend, please put it in a comment!  I've got to go close the windows now; it's about 34 degrees and my nose is cold. Hopefully I will see you playing at Die Cut Diva's Challenge.  Have a great day and thank you so much for stopping by!  ~Christi

I would Like to Enter my "I'm With You" card in the following challenges: 
To Be Filled out After I take a nap.  I apologize for being so late adding these challenges - my 4 am to 8 am shift is a bit hard to adjust to!  Without further ado:

Scrapy Land - #101, Anything Goes with a die company they carry
DL Art Thankful Thursday Challenge - #237
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Thanks
Papercraft Challenge - #24, Friendship
Dies R Us - #108, Stitched Dies {entry #2}
SheepSki's Designs Challenge - #20, Anything Christmas Goes