Blog candy that is! LOL  I’ve stumbled upon several awesome blogs offering “candy” and thought I’d share them with you…so if I don’t win the candy maybe YOU will!

First up is Jennifer at Phoenix Crafts:

Lots and lots of goodies here – but you’ll have to visit her blog to get the full scoop!

Next up is Bev and she’s sportin’ some new Whiff of Joy goodies – and you so don’t want to miss those! Better hurry though, this one ends TODAY!

Another fabulous set of goodies – visit the blog to win!

Jacqui has more Whiff of Joy goodies – they’re celebrating the newest Guardian Angel releases.

Better hurry – these end soon!

Susie has these FABULOUS goodies on her blog too!

Again, this ends today, so hurry!

Ellie has these fun items on her blog:

Woohoo! This one ends today as well, so hurry up!

I’ll be back with more in a bit.

Shannon

I was visiting Vicki’s blog after the Hanna Stamps blog-hop as she had some yummy eye-candy and discovered another challenge – and you can play along. Vicki is leaving the challenge, and a chance to win blog-candy, open until Sunday!  Hurray!  What are YOU waiting for?!?! In the spirit of continuing my stamping endeavors, I thought I’d give it a try.  The rules were to use orange as the primary CS and one other accent color to create a card.  You can see Vicki’s example here. Now, orange isn’t exactly a go-to color for me, so I had to do some serious thinking.  Here’s what I came up with:

I stamped the Zinnia and Butterfly from Serendipity Stamps in Basic Black (SU) on Whisper White (SU) CS.  I colored the flowers and the butterfly with my SU markers – oranges and greens for the flowers and Going Gray for the butterfly to create the shadow.  Then I masked the image and stamped the Script (SU) background in Versamark.  I chalked with my Pebbles I-Kan-Dee shimmer chalks to bring out the background.  Instead of matting my stamped image, I used the faux window technique to create the border. The base image was mounted on an Only Orange (SU) base.  I stamped the butterfly again in Basic Black, colored him with my SU markers, cut him out and adhered him with 2-way glue.  I used Winsor & Newton Iridescent Medium to add sparkle to the large zinnia, the butterfly body and wings.  To  finish off the card, I added 3 Basic Black Vintage Brads (SU). I think the next time I make a card like this, I’ll use my Sizzix/SU texture plates that I ordered from Bunny – they should be arriving by the time I get home from visiting Nana next week.

Let’s see, to make sure my dear Photoshop doesn’t get lonely, I’ve been working on another card front for the DSO March Great Exchange Challenge.  This one uses Sweet Friends by our March Designer of the Month, Doodle!

There’s still time for YOU to join us!  I’d love to see what you come up with!

I guess that’s all from me – at least for now.  Have a fabulous Friday!

Shannon

Shame on you Bunny! I had been a very good girl and put most of my stamping addiction behind me! Alas, you have changed that and once again my creative energies have an overwhelming desire to color and run far far away from my dear Photoshop! LOL  Seriously though, I hadn’t really picked-up a stamp since before Nadya arrived, so I have tons of amazing supplies just sitting here…begging to be used.  So, I stamped!!! Yup, I created this card for a friend of ours:

I used my Sizzix Big Shot and the A2 Movers and Shakers with the 4-pane window die to cut-out the card from Bazzill’s Lilac textured cardstock.  The flowers are from the Paper Studio and the silver organdy ribbon is from Hobby Lobby.  The brads are SU Vintage with Lumiere added to make them pearly purple.

Then on the inside, I stamped the bluebird from SU’s Garden Collage kit on Very Vanilla CS in Basic Black and colored with my SU markers.  I added clear stickles to the center of the flowers for dimension and sparkle.  The sentiment is also SU and is stamped in Vintage Violet ink.  I stippled Lovely Lilac over the CS and edged it with my Elegant Eggplant marker.

So, there you have it – my first card in years and I think it turned out well!

Anyway, Bunny sent me a PM today with a link to some stunning stamps drawn by artist Elisabeth Bell.  All I can say is WOW!  The images are stunning and provide amazing opportunity to color! The 2 lines I’ve seen so far, Whiff of Joy – Willow and Oakley and Sugar Nellie’s Sweet Art Ebony – Honey and Pip have been instantly added to my wishlist.  I’m kinda bummed that both are manufactured overseas, so the Exchange Rate isn’t in my favor! But, there is hope!!! Lis-trations Art & Design is offering a FABULOUS blog candy opportunity between now and April 6th…someone will win ALL of the Spring 2009 Willow and Oakley stamps!!!! Checkout this link for more details!  I’d really better sell some templates this month – I need these stamps!

Ok, I’m off to play with my daughter and catch American Idol.  Have a great evening!  I hope Adam doesn’t get kicked off, but after that frightening rendition of Ring of Fire – I don’t know…

Shannon