Victoria Case is offering a brand-new sheet of her newest stamp release for Susana’s Custom Art and Card Design! These stamps won’t be released until September 29.  Victoria will give one set away on the 28th (which is also my Anniversary- hmm maybe I’ll be extra lucky)?!?!  Check our her blog for more details.

After creating the Cowgirl birthday card for Yasha’s birthday, I knew I needed more of Victoria Case’s images!  Fortunately for me, some of her freebies are still available – just an email request away!  So, while searching her blog, I found a link to her challenge blog – yup – a weekly challenge with prizes and a chance to be a guest DT member – I was hooked!  For this week’s challenge, Victoria provided this sketch:

Her DT created some fabulous inspiration, so I decided to join in too. The color combination was inspired and selected by my little one – who at 2 is already developing her sense of fashion and color!  I tried to match her hair to the fairy’s, but didn’t quite make it!

I printed the cute little fairy on Georgia Pacific White CS and colored her with Copics.  Victoria designed this digital stamp freebie for Erin – who has been organizing a card drive for Paige – the young girl whose arm was amputated due to injury from a boating accident. To add a bit of dimension, I added Memory Box Daffodil pearls for her bracelet and Gelly Roll Clear Glaze for her eyes.  The flowers and her wings are accented with Spica markers and her shoes are dotted with a Zebra silver pen. To create clouds, I dabbed light blue shimmer chalk over the background.  She’s layered onto a Bazzill Basics textured mat (I trimmed both with my small corner rounder).  Here’s a close-up of my fairy girl:

I used my Nestabilities to cut the scallop circle and rectangle from DCWV mat stacks.  The white DP is an inverted scrap from cutting the Fiskars DP to size – for added texture I embossed it with my Cuttlebug Birds n Swirls folder. All of that was layered onto Fiskars DP.  I created the flowers using a sheet of American Crafts Vellum from my stash (it had 2 colors per sheet) and the Birds and Blossoms die set from SU/Sizzix.  I used silver brads to hold the layers together and then spritzed the flowers with Vanilla Breeze Glimmer Mist. After they dried, I attached them to the card and then used a bit of glue and  Sugar Coating Bumblebee Glitter over the brads to create the flower centers.  As a final touch, I added pale yellow bauble drops from my friend Suzanne’s store. The card base is Regal Rose.  This is a large card – 8.5×5.5 – but I think it will be perfect as a birthday card for my Nana – she’ll be celebrating her 79th birthday next month – and since she’ll be visiting my Mom, we’ll get to celebrate with her!

Ingredients: 
Pattern Paper: American Crafts Visions Vellum (from stash), Fiskars Shimmer Glow Orchid, DCWV Spring Mat Glitter Stack
Cardstock: SU Regal Rose, Georgia Pacific White, Bazzill Textured Purple, DCWV Nana’s Nursery
Stamps: Victoria Case Erin Fairy
Markers: Copic Markers (C01, E02, YR00,Y21, YR24, V09, V15, V17, E00, G07, G09, YR04, RV11, RV14, V12,YG03, R02) and Spica Glitter Pens (Pink, Purple, Yellow, Clear), Zebra Silver pen, Gelly Roll Glaze Gloss Pen
Other: Nestabilities Long Rectangles and Classic Scallop Circles Large,  Memory Box Daffodil Pearls, Light Yellow Bauble Drops, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Vanilla Breeze, Small Corner Rounder Punch, SU Birds and Blossoms Die, Cuttlebug Birds & Swirls, and Pebbles Shimmer Chalks

While we’re on the topic of challenges, have you seen what’s going on at DSO?Complete Kim’s Colour Challenge and earn this stunning beauty: Charlie is offering a template to get you started on her Desktop Challenge and a lovely mini for completing it: Loucee’s Animal Kingdom challenge is a little on the wild side: Need some inspiration? Di’s Scraplift challenge is sure to do the trick!

Misty is encouraging our inner Globe Trotter with her Ad challenge – and offering this for completing it: And Andrea is offering coordinating minis for completing her Quote and Font Challenges:

I guess that’s all from me! Have a fabulous Tuesday evening and Wednesday!

Time flies  – whether you’re having fun or not! September is a busy month for us – Yasha’s birthday and our Anniversary are both this month and with Fall approaching, the days are getting shorter; there always seems to be something to do!

Last weekend I attended a joint baby shower – I knew one of the ladies fairly well, but not the other.  Nadya did really well, but we did duck out a bit early.  I managed to put together a couple of cards – one for each mommy-to-be.  Since the gender wasn’t known at the time (one couple doesn’t want to know and the other didn’t say), the cards are both gender neutral.

Ingredients: 
Pattern Paper: Sarah Meyer Gummy Grins (digital kit)
Cardstock: SU Apricot Appeal, DCWV Mat Stack, Georgia Pacific White
Stamps/Fonts: Scrappin Cop Animal Font
Ribbon: SU Apricot Appeal (from Sale-A-Bration)
Markers: Copic Markers YR04 – Chrome Orange, Y13 – Lemon Yellow, Y15 – Cadmium Yellow, C01 – Cool Gray #1 and Spica Glitter Pens
Other: Nestabilities Classic Scallop Circles Large and Standard Circles Large

Ingredients: 
Pattern Paper: Sarah Meyer Gummy Grins (digital kit)
Cardstock: SU Glorious Green, DCWV Mat Stack, Georgia Pacific White
Stamps/Fonts: Scrappin Cop Animal Font
Ribbon: Hobby Lobby
Markers: Copic Markers G28 – Ocean Green and C01 – Cool Gray #1
Other: Nestabilities Classic Scallop Circles Large and Standard Circles Large; SU Eyelet Texture Plate

For Yasha’s birthday, I created a card using one of Victoria Case’s digital stamps! I had to much fun working on this card – and my DH loved it!

Ingredients: 
Pattern Paper: Paper Studio Pink Patchwork 
Cardstock: SU Basic Black, Georgia Pacific White
Stamps/Fonts: Victoria Case Cowgirl, Western Font
Ribbon: Pink Grosgrain
Markers: Copic Markers (B39, B05, B06, RV29, RV11, Y11, Y13, Y15, E00, YR000, E02, C09, C07, C05) and Spica Glitter Pens
Other: Nestabilities Long Rectangles, Rhinestone, Gelly Roll Glaze Gloss Pen, and Pebbles Shimmer Chalks

I’m still learning how to color with my Copics.  I followed several of the tutorials offered by Suzanne Dean (pdf and video).  I don’t have most of the colors she has, so I had to improvise a bit.  All in all, I think she turned out quite well. What do you think?

Yesterday we took Nadya to the Cattleman’s Steakhouse at Indian Cliff’s Ranch – they have the best steaks and BBQ around.  Since they are a working ranch, they’ve incorporated a petting zoo and walking path – we had a great time! The weather wasn’t too hot, we had a fantastic meal to celebrate Yasha’s birthday and our upcoming anniversary, and we made it home before the worst of the thunderstorm hit! If I can get Photoshop to stop crashing, I’ll upload a few photos.

Have a great evening!