AiFactory Flourishes for Easter

Good morning everyone! This week is kind of a nutsy week. The DT was given our regular challenge and then Angie upped the ante by offering a prize to the DT member who was able to enter her project in the most challenges. You guys know how much I like multi-challenge cards, so I was definitely game for this one. I don't know if I've succeeded, but I certainly gave it my best shot.

For AiFactory Challenge 30, we got to use some brand new clip-art flourishes. I chose to take one of them, duplicate it, and colour it green before printing it onto card stock. I already had two challenges in mind as a place to start. The first is Mojo Monday 132. I went with the square version of the sketch. The second is my all-time favourite challenge, Etsy Inspired. Challenge #81 comes from the shop Ponder & Stitch. This time I chose this bracelet, with it's yellow, purple and green. I even used the button!

I'll list the rest of the challenges after the card, but I figure if I talk too much first, you guys are going to get bored. So, here's the card!

Deets: Flourish - AiFactory & Photoshop
Stamp: Memory Box
Ink: Shabby Shutters Distress Ink, Copic Markers
Cardstock: Yoyo yellow & Neenah Classic Crest Solar White
Etc: Clear embossing powder, Nestibilities Labels 3, SU Soft Suede ribbon
All else is from the Caffinated Cropper Beeez Knees kit (dp, button, thread and doily)

Please check out the rest of the AiFactory DT and their projects. If you play along you could win your own set of flourishes. I only used one, but there are four different flourishes in the set. Links are on the left sidebar.

Other challenges this card is for:
Oh, Alice! Chapter 6 - the fine print: the 3rd dp is printed, although it doesn't show as much as I would have wished.
Stampin' Bees Challenge 51 - use purple, green & yellow
Rosie-D's Challenge #67 - green, yellow and white
Color Throwdown #86 - yoyo yellow, garden green (or old olive) and soft suede
Pink Elephant #60 - pastels
Digital Tuesday Challenge #52 - Scrap It: I used scraps of 3 dps, plus the digital flourishes
Daring Cardmakers - How Egg-citing: Not only do I have an egg, but I also used chocolate brown on my button
Res-Q Challenge - A Visit to the Ob/Gyn: Eggs!
Dare U 2 Digistamp Challenge 34 - Easter: How much more Easter can you get than eggs and chocolate?
Fussy & Fancy Challenge 7: Easter
Stamp Simply #132: Easter (I see a recurring theme here)
Paper Cutz Challenge #34: Easter, but no bunnies or chicks
Stampin' For the Weekend #35: Easter (and a digi image)
Stamin' Royalty #13: Easter
Creative Craft Challenges #10: Eggstatic (Easter)
Lexi's Creations Challenge 10: Easter
Going Grey Challenge #3: Easter
Corrosive Challenges: Easter
C.R.A.F.T. 43: Easter
Stamp with Fun Challenge #51: Easter
Magical Crafts Challenge #11 - Spring/Easter
Charisma Cardz #12 - Spring has Sprung
Everybody Art Challenge #83 - Spring
Digital Tuesday#51 - Happy Spring
Little Red Wagon Challenge #22 - Rolling into Spring
Belli Challenge #88 - Colour Spray: That button used to be ivory, but I used my Copic Air Brush on it
Caardvarks - Lacy Days: one lace doily
Cute Card Thursday Challenge 105 - Dimensions: I went with layers.
For Fun Challenge - Anything Goes
Crafty Creations Challenge #61 - Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly - Open challenge
Practical Scrappers - use something you've had over a year: the yoyo yellow cardstock

How's that for a lot of challenges in one card?? I think there are 34. This is definitely a record for me. Have a great day - and if you feel like it, check out the Unity Forum on SCS for a return of Hip Hop!

The Beeez Kneez Blog Hop

Good morning everyone! I'm still moving a little slow, but I had to participate in this blog hop. My friend, Amy, the Caffinated Cropper, has started her own kit business. The first kit, the Beeez Kneez, is nearly sold out and I can see why! There are so many goodies in this kit, from stamps all the way down to hat pins.

If you've come from Debby's blog, you're in the right place. If you get lost on the hop, go back to the Caffinated Cropper for a full list of participants. Don't forget to leave some love at each stop - you could win a mini Beeez Kneez kit of your very own!

There are only 2 things on my card that did not come from the Beeez Kneez. I used some Frosted Lace Stickles on the bee's wings and the sentiment came from Unity - because I needed to make this a thank you card for my grandmother, whose favourite colour is green. There was no way I wasn't using this kit for her! The centre of the sunflower has Cinnamon Stickles and those came with the kit! I popped up the little bee for some added dimension, but it doesn't show well in the photo.

Challenges this card is for:
All Things Unity - ATU02 green (perfect for this kit!)
NinaB's blogiversary sketch
Cute Card Thursday Challenge 105 - dimensions
Crafty Ann's Challenge #11 - card for someone special
EtsyInspired #81 - Ponder & Stitch (this one for green and flowers)

Next on your trip today is sweet Ashley, who is not only a good friend, but a member of the Caffinated Cropper Design Team!

AiFactory Dances

Hi and good morning everyone! This week is Challenge #29 at AiFactory and we've been challenged to make an easel card. Yikes! The team was split into two groups, with each group being given a different Ella image. I got to play with Ella the Ballerina.

This is my first easel card, and I'm working with a wrist brace on, so please be gentle. Ella is coloured with Copic markers. I placed her on a background of Basic Grey dp from the Sugar Rush collection, topped with more pink cardstock cut with a Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Pendants die. The sentiment comes from the current Unity Kit of the Month and I stamped it with Pearlescent Orchid Brilliance ink and heat embossed it. The candy dots are by Pebbles.

This card is also for the following challenges:
PaperPlay Challenges Week 11: Good Luck/Thank You
Stamp & Scrap Saturday: masking or heat embossing
Little Red Wagon Challenge #21: inspiration photo - I used pink and blue from the linens, plus Ella's ruffly tutu reminds me of the lace and the pillow sham ruffles in the photo.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the team and see what they have for you. Links are on the left sidebar. You have until March 31 at 11pm EDT to play along and post your project on the AiFactory Challenges blog. AiFactory images are not strictly necessary, but if you have 'em, why not use 'em?

Blooming in Pink

This is going to be a quick post, as I'm super behind and barely feeling human.

I made this card for a Swap-bot swap called Spring in a Frame, which called for a card to celebrate spring. The twist was that there had to be a stamped frame of some sort. I used this pretty necklace from this week's Etsy Inspired Challenge shop, designsbycathy. It uses Arranged With Love, one of Melanie Muenchinger's sets by GinaK Designs, which plays off the botanical nature of the necklace. I used silver embossing powder to mimic the silver of the necklace. The layout is from Sketch Saturday #95.Deets:
Stamps: Arranged with Love - GinaK Designs, Sentiment is JustRite Curlz font
Paper: Basic Grey Sugar Rush, SU, MFT Perfect Paper Panel
Ink: Versamark, Distress Ink Spun Sugar
Etc: Detail Silver embossing powder, Copic markers,
Martha Stewart Doily Lace edge punch, Love My Tapes adhesive

Other challenges this card is for:
Challenge Up Your Life: "flower compliment"
Allsorts Challenge Week 44: Spring is in the Air
Crazy for Challenges C4C29: Make a spring card
Creative Cottage Challenge #2: Flowers
Little Red Wagon LRW20 : Copics
Simon Says Stamp: A Splash of Green
Paper Garden Birthday Challenge #3: spring or Easter colours
Crafty Catz Challenge #24: Spring
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #75: Spring has sprung
Frosted Designs: Think Spring
Stamp & Scrap Saturday: masking or heat embossing

EtsyInspired #78 with Maigan Lynn

I think I've mentioned before that EtsyInspired is my favourite challenge. I love it so much because it's always different, I can use any stamps - or no stamps at all, and I get to learn about new artists on Etsy. Sometimes, however, there are artists I already know about and it's fun to celebrate them, too. This week (#78) is a great week for me to be able to play again because I adore the art of Maigan Lynn. This is one talented lady, and if you haven't seen her stuff, go. Now. Seriously. Especially if you like fantasy-oriented art.

So, on top of it being an EIC challenge, I needed a birthday card for my goddaughter, whose birthday is this week. YIKES!! I do not know how she's getting as big as she is, but she'd better stop growing or I'm going to cry.

So I chose this beautiful piece from Maigan Lynn, called Nivia. And yes, I just so happen to have a Nivia stamp. You guys know me. If I can hit more than one challenge at a time, I'm going to. Oh Alice is one I've been wanting to try, because my friend Ky is on the DT. This week, the challenge is to create something using red, blue and purple. Awesome. I can do that!

Then, because I absolutely hated my original plan, I thought I'd see what 2 Sketches 4 You had this week. I was thrilled to see dear Ashley under the "2S4Y hearts This Blogger"!! At that point, I had to use this week's 2S4Y sketch! There was no way around it!

How's that for a long-winded way of saying "here's my card and I hope you like it"?

Deets:
Stamps: QKD Nivia, GinaK Designs Wishes & Dreams Sentiment
Paper: Prism Twilight Dark, Basic Grey Euphoria
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Ink Barn Door
Etc: clear embossing powder, Circle Nestabilities, Copic Markers

It's Lily Week with AiFActory

Hi everyone. I'd like to thank you for all of the good wishes this past week. They are definitely helping. I did go to the doctor and she said it was just a bad strain again. She switched me over to vicodin sso that I could function instead of just sleeping. I'm not at 100%, (and it's making my kids laugh at me when I walk), but I"m getting there.

For AiFActory Challenge #27, we're working with the Lily Collection, which is being reduced to $5 for the whole collection, and the challenge is to make a simple card with some sort of clear element to it. It can be a clear embellishment, clear embossing powder, acetate...whatever, just as long as there is something clear on the card. Since I love embossing so much, I used clear embossing powder to emboss my sentiment.

My lily was the Mariposa Lily. I'd never seen one before, so I googled images to see what they looked like to get colouring ideas. This is the image I used for inspiration. They're such pretty flowers. I used the sketch from CPS157. The dp is from Basic Grey's Origins. Card stock is the lovely new green (the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger!) from GinaK , as is the sentiment. I coloured in the lilies with Copic markers.

Please go check out the rest of the team and see what they've done. There are four different lily images in the set, so there are a good variety of things to see. When you're done, head over to the AiFactory Challenge Blog for full details and upload your own creation by 11pm EST on Wednesday, March 18.

Cheri
Kerry
Angie
Penny
Erin
Monica
Fliss
Fink
Carlie
Laurie
Lola

My Back Hates Me

It's out again. On percocet and flexeril. And a heating pad. Back as soon as I can.

Oh Wow!

I was going to post about some mixed emotions for today. You see, I'd forgotten that my term with Softpencil was up at the end of February, so last Thursday's post was my last as a member of the team. I'm kinda sad about that. I had a wonderful time, and I adore Elizabeth's images. There will be more from me in the future, they just won't be on a schedule.

Thank you to Elizabeth, Kerry (the DT coordinator) and the rest of the team. You've been fabulous to work with.

Friday, I was a hostess at VSN on Splitcoaststampers. This was my challenge:

Each Winter Olympics has its own official sweater. The Lillehammer, the Torino, and others are designed by Dale of Norway. I've always wanted to created one of my own, but the time it takes to knit one is extraordinary.

This year, the Hudson's Bay Company has produced a contemporary twist on a traditional Cowichan sweater, which is a long-standing Canadian icon. Although there is a sweater designed by Dale of Norway, the Official Olympic Sweater for Vancouver is this one, and it is this sweater that is the inspiration for this challenge.

We can't knit a sweater in 45 minutes, but we can certainly create
a card! Use the colours from the sweater in your creation. For a bigger challenge, use maple leaves, elk, or other patterning.


Participation in my challenge was fabulous! This is my third time as a VSN hostess, and although I'm guessing that a large part of the turnout is due to the prizes offered by Spellbinders (why did I offer to host this time?? I'm not eligible for any prizes, darn it!), I'm still very happy to see so many people chose to play along.

As of this writing, 7 hours remain to upload a card and there are 98, including my own!! That is just amazing! This one is mine.Deets:

Cardstock: GinaK Soft Sand, SU cream
DP: Jillibean Soup
Stamps: Unity leaves from Simple Blessings
Etc: Distress Ink Fired Bric , clear embossing powder

To further mix my feelings, I lost a filling last night. A big one. I now have a dentist appointment at 8am tomorrow. So freaking out a bit about that. I have valium to take in the morning.

But then I was heading over to Stephanie's blog just to see what she was up to today. I'd completely forgotten today was the day she was announcing the winner of her blog candy. Major shock!! I won!!! I am thrilled!! Thank you, Stephanie!!