Whew! We had a busy day!  We started our morning with a trip to Costco and a quick lunch (Nadya and I both love their pizza) and then we met Carmen – a fellow crafter who found me through my blog.  We had a nice visit with her before heading over to say Hi to the folks at Creative Stamp Impressions.  They weren’t there, but I found some yummy black and orange glitter glue that will be fabulous on my remaining Halloween projects and a few Fall/Autumn features too.  Then we stopped at The Stamp Act as Polly was holding some Flower Soft colors for me.  Once we were home, it was time unload the car, start laundry, and put Nadya’s carseat back together – it had a little Dr. Pepper situation last night that required the entire liner to be stripped off and washed and the base to be hosed off!  Tomorrow we’re going to the Raptor Air show at the AFB.

Speaking of busy, Kristine has a fabulous WordArt freebie on her blog – it coordinates with her Nightfall kit (also a past freebie). Then, the girls over at Digiscrap Vault are having a Saturday Sale – and as you know ALL of the products at the Vault are CU friendly and Quality Checked!

Ok – have a fabulous day – I’m off to spend time with my family.

Hooray! I am so excited to announce that I’ve joined the Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff Design Team.  When Lindsay invited me – I was so surprised – and of course, I said yes!  That being said, it’s new release day for Lindsay! 

Be sure to stop by Lindsay’s blog for a fabulous FREEBIE and a quick tutorial on recoloring your digi-stamps. While you’re there check for another FREEBIE from her redesigned Babies and Bows kit – which is on sale in celebration of the arrival of Lindsay’s nephew, Mason.

I created a couple of cards using both Leaf Prints and Babies and Bows – the sets are a breeze to work with.  I just open them in Photoshop, resize to fit my project, print, color and viola – I’m done! This is a Sympathy card for one of Yasha’s coworker’s family – he passed away suddenly over the weekend.  I used Lindsay’s Leaf Prints and Lovely as a Tree by Stampin’ Up.  I used Flower Soft on the trees and shimmer chalks to add sky and ground cover.  Since Polly, the owner of my LSS, was out of the Autumn Mix, I purchased red, yellow, and brown pots from her and mixed my own blend.  I think it turned out well – and she’s saving a bottle of the Autumn Mix for me when it arrives. Hooray!  I wrote the verse (Ecclesiastes 3:1) in by hand. For the inside, I thought Lindsay’s swirl frame and sentiment were perfect so I printed them on Confetti Vanilla CS and then colored with my Spica markers for a little shine and depth. The base card is from DCWV Indian Summer Fall Box of Cards. I added a sheer organdy ribbon for texture. For my 2nd project, I used Lindsay’s Babies and Bows set. I created the card front in Photoshop using a Metal style from Jodiann Cates on the frame, recoloring the text, and printing on White CS.  I colored the images with my Copics and Spica Markers and layered them onto Barely Banana CS and a textured card base from DCWV Summer Stack.  I added sheer pink organdy ribbon to frame the card.

I’d better close for now – I’ll be back in a bit with more goodies to show you! Have a fabulous Thursday!

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!