The Path of Positivity Challenge is On!

I LOVE using color - bold, vivid, assorted - they make me feel happy. However, for my DT make, I followed the new challenge theme at the Path of Positivity and stayed with NEUTRALS. I was surprised at how easily my card came to life! The challenge has opened my eyes to a larger selection of colors. Of course, isn't that what a challenge is supposed to do? - open your eyes to new techniques,designs and patterns?

I colored up this digi image, called Black Cat 1, from A Day for Daisies. (If I had a hundred dollars, I would practically buy out the store, I so love these images) Wearing her crown, my kitty's sentiment made complete sense.

At the Path of Positivity, the focus is on NEUTRAL colors. Your project should be at least 51% of the overall color scheme. It doesn't need to be completely monochromatic so a spattering of other colors is fine. Just be sure that if you would like a chance to win the prize for the Most Inspirational Creation, over half of the colours in your project must be made up of NEUTRAL shades such as black, white, beiges and greys! The neutral shades can be in the colours you choose to fill your images with, and/or they can be in your choices of papers and embellishments. Just make sure that the majority of your project focuses on the varying shades of neutrals. We can't wait to see how you explore the theme in your designs!

If you do follow the optional theme, be sure to add FT after your name so that we include you in the draw for the prize for Most Inspirational. By the way, how does this month's color grouping make you feel; please share that when you link up your creation. You can write a sentence or two in the body of your post, write a sentence at the bottom of your post next to the link up for this challenge, or simply leave a comment on this post if you'd like.

Remember, in order to be considered eligible for this month's prizes, all creations must be positive, inspirational, motivational or encouraging in some nature. You don't need to follow the optional theme if you simply want to have a chance at the Random Draw prize of a $12 gift certificate from A Day for Daisies, one of the guest sponsors this month. 

You only need to follow the theme if you want a chance to win an additional sponsored prize of the same three digis used by team members, provided by Mari Digis, the second of the guest sponsors this month, for the project chosen as Most Inspiring.

There you have it. Are you ready to jump out of your comfort zone? Try a card with a neutral color scheme for your chance to win at the Path of Positivity Challenge blog. I'll see you there.

Happy crafting! 

Challenges I am Entering:

2 Crafty Critter Crazies - anything Goes w/a critter

Ching-Chou Kuik - Cats or Dogs

Creative with Stamps - Cute ANIMALS

Fabrika Fantasy - Animals

Monochrome Magic - Monochrome or 

Monochrome with a TWIST of No Patterned Papers

Man Up with the 12 Months of Christmas Challenge Blog

My card today is created with non-traditional holiday colors. I colored my image, a digi from Sheepski Designs called Snow Happy, and popped it onto a very decidedly masculine background, which includes  one of the textured papers in Decosse's Dynamite Doodles' newest Paper Kit called Texture Time-Leathers 1. You like it? Link up two cards with the 12 Months of Christmas Challenge blog and you will receive one of the papers automatically. You even get to vote for which paper should be the one given away from the set!

It's time for another new challenge theme over at  the 12 Months of Christmas blog.       
Last month the focus was on the women in our lives and this month crafters are asked to give our men the special treatment--well, related to Christmas cards anyway.😉 This month, in over 105 different countries around the world, fathers are being honored during Father's Day. In fact, there is only one month during the year where there isn't a Father's Day celebration and that happens to be January. There is at least one country celebrating in every other month, with the two highest concentrations being in March and June. Since the focus is on dear old dad this month for many people, it just made sense to focus on masculinity for our theme. When you think of Christmas, what would it be like without a masculine touch?! As such, it is time to honor the men in our lives who do so much at Christmas time to make the occasion special.

That is why this month, in order to have a chance to win the prize from our guest sponsor, we want you to create a card that would be considered MASCULINE.  Now since many crafters have difficulty with masculine cards, this is the perfect opportunity to get some practice in and stretch those masculine Christmas card muscles. It is time to break out your Santa, elf, snowman, penguin and other images perfect for a card for a special man in your life. It is also an opportunity to bring out your stripes and plaids and grungy textures; give your blue, green and brown markers a workout; delve into your stash bag of twine and burlap or maybe even find some fun masculine elements as well. Whatever approach you take, as long as your card has a masculine touch, it will qualify. If you do follow the optional theme, be sure to add FT after your name so that we include you in the draw for the prize.

Keep in mind though, that you don't need to follow the theme to link up your cards and earn a free paper each month or for a chance to win the featured paper set. You only need to follow the theme if you want a chance to win this month's sponsored prize of three images from the SheepSki Designs store.     

 Décosse's Dynamite Doodles also offers one free digital paper to everyone who links up a minimum of two cards to the challenge. Cards can be anything goes for this prize, they only have to follow the theme if they want a chance at the sponsor's prize. The mini set of six digital papers yet to be made, will also be offered up as a prize to one random winner.

  Challenges I am Entering:

 Christmas Crafts All Year 'round - Non-traditional colors

Sheepski Designs -  Embellish or Clean & Simple

Make It Masculine at Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog

Last month at Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog, crafters were asked to "favor the feminine." This month the challenge theme is to "make it Masculine." I've been creating Thank You cards recently, and I am still a few short for an event I held recently. I got creative with a Scribbles digi image called #F 117 Life Preserver. I used Photoshop to create a scene from a photo of myself and a digi paper from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles. After printing it, I colored my life preserver with Copics and added a few coastal bird 3D figures embellishments. The border is a digital element from Pixel Scrapper Melo Vrijhof's That Teenage Life Kit. 

 The scenic paper from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles is from her Chasing Rainbows Paper Kit.

My three photos are of my card folded, standing open and flattened open. And yes, I didn't have a more appropriate photo of myself, so that is a bottle of wine in my hand as I "flounder in the sea." Anyway, I know just who to send this card to...

There are two weeks left to link up your card or project, whether you create with the optional theme or not. Hope to see you at Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog!!

Mari Digis Sponsors the Outlawz Greetings Challenge

I can't believe I left this post in draft! I've been away from the Outlawz Monday Greetings challenges for quite a while now, and this week got a Guest Designer spot in their Anything Goes challenge, which started Monday! Well, better late than never!
My card features this cute digi called "Ballerina" from Mari Digis Store, who is sponsoring this week's challenge. With her tattoos, boots and streaked hair, I thought this cutie was not your average ballerina. So instead of creating my card with pastels or lots of pink, I wanted a definite tomboy look to it. Regardless if your dancer is a tomboy or a girly girl, my sentiment rings true for everyone.

So you have until Sunday night (again, sorry for the short notice) to create any type of card you wish, as long as it has a greeting or sentiment on the front (hence the name Monday Greetings challenge). Remember to have fun, and happy crafting!!

Challenges I am Entering:

Crafty Creations - Anything Goes

Crafty Gals Corner - Anything Goes

Creative Moments - Anything Goes

The Crafty Addicts - Anything Goes

Choose Your Own Colors at the Path of Positivity

Can you believe that May is almost over? This year is especially flying by so fast! That's why it's so important to wake up from your daily grind and take a moment to live in it. Look around you and enjoy the colors, breathe in the smells of new growth and blooming flowers,  and listen to the birds sing to each other.
When I go walking with my dog Wilson, I sometimes pretend I'm on a scavenger hunt, only the list is empty until I fill it. Will I find a black squirrel today, hear a woodpecker, watch a busy bee drink from a flower? Can I identify the flowers in bloom (most times no, I'm not a flower gardener)? At these times, I am not worrying about what to cook for dinner, where I put the checkbook or whose turn it is to clean the bathroom. I am in the moment, and it is my zen time (except for diligently picking up whatever Wilson leaves behind).
What does all this have to do with this month's challenge at the Path of Positivity? Nothing, I just wanted to share with you the secret to my sanity, and my positivity. Along these mindful walks, I also drink in a multitude of colors, which (here it is) segues into the theme at the Path of Positivity's Challenge: Choose Your Own Color(s).
I have a secret I want to share with you - I don't have one true favorite color. I am an eclectic lover of color. I never met a color I didn't like (well, I don't consider greige a color, what is that anyway?).  So when it comes to such an open-ended challenge like the one offered at the Path, I took the word "choose" to heart. I guess if I had to pinpoint the colors in this card, it would have to be shades of yellow, orange and purple - good solid summer colors.
I got to play with a digital image from one of two guest sponsors this month, Sheepski Designs. Andrea's store has grown so much in the last year or two and her designs are awesome. I chose one called Butterfly Curls. I am STILL trying to get my printer to behave, so my card today is 100% digital.
I started with a personal photograph of my daughter's summer garden, where she planted flowers especially pleasing to butterflies. I toned down the opaqueness and placed it onto a paper I made using Photoshop's Magic Paintbrush, which makes the background look like it's against a wood fence. I added the pre-colored image of my butterflies (damn printer) and then wrote out my sentiment in a font called Leathery Soft. To finish off my card, I framed it with Pixel Scrapper Sunny Faith Rush's Mellow Yellow Frame 1.
I CAN'T WAIT TO PRINT THIS OUT!!

Meanwhile, let me tell you about the challenge at the Path of Positivity:

You get to Choose Your Favourite Colour(s). Whether a single color or a small selection, it is up to you. You can also use some different colors if you'd like but if you would like a chance to win the prize for the Most Inspirational Creation, over half of the colours in your project must be based on your your Favourite Colour(s)! You can choose to color your image(s) and/or use your choice of colored papers and embellishments. Just make sure that the majority of your project focuses on the color(s) that you love the most. 

If you do follow the optional theme, be sure to add FT after your name so that we include you in the draw for the prize for Most Inspirational.
You will also need to let us know somewhere in your post exactly what your Favourite Colour(s) are.  Without this information, you won't be eligible to qualify for the MI prize. 

Additionally, though completely optional, we'd also love to find out how your Favourite Colour(s) make you feel, if you'd like to share that with us. What kinds of feelings do these colours evoke in you? You can write a sentence or two in the body of your post, write a sentence at the bottom of your post next to the link up for this challenge, or simply leave a comment on this post if you'd like.

Remember, in order to be considered eligible for this month's prizes, ALL creations must be positive, inspirational, motivational or encouraging in some nature. You don't need to follow the optional theme if you simply want to have a chance at the Random Draw prize of THREE digital images of your choice from SheepSki Designs,

one of our guest sponsors this month. You only need to follow the theme if you want a chance to win an additional sponsored prize of a $15 gift certificate from Lunagirl,

the second of our guest sponsors this month, for the project chosen as Most Inspiring.

That's it in a nutshell! Create with color, share with us at the Path of Positivity, and have FUN with your favorite colors!!

Make It Masculine at Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog

I don't know why, but I don't have a lot of cards I can give to the men in my life. Honestly, I have more girlfriends and family members than guys, so that may be the reason, but I should still keep a few cards on hand. Sine I'm still building my stash of Thank You cards, I thought this Scribbles Designs image, called Hammer, would be perfect for the sentiment I am using.
Usually I embellish with flowers and flourishes and bows, so I had to scrounge around and came up with a few brads. I tore the paper  to give it rough edges, and  also doodled my own patterns on it to break up all that empty space (I can't call it white now,can I?).
Besides this gem of an image from the Scribbles Store, I printed Sharon Dewi Stolp's Bricks Paint Spray onto the sentiment (you can just barely see it). The fonts I used are Big Book & Due Date.
The challenge theme over at Scribbles Designs is MAKE IT MASCULINE, so you need  to feature a guy or gear your card toward guys if you want a chance to win free digis from the Scribbles Store.
Happy Crafting, and good luck!

Favoring the Feminine at Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog

For my DT make today, I am following both this month's challenge theme at Scribbles Designs, which is to feature or create for, a feminine, as well as my own mission to build up my stash of Thank You cards.
I love this cute digi image from the Scribbles Store. It's called Bunny Bum, and goes perfectly with my grateful sentiment of "Thanks for having my back." My life has been turned upside down these last few months, and if it weren't for a load of wonderful caring people, I would be lost. I have had quite a need for thank you cards lately. I want to make sure I always have extra on hand.

While surfing through my stash of craft supplies, I came across an envelope that was beautifully decorated but oddly shaped. So I cut out some of the decoration and used it to set the garden scene on my card. After that, it was just a matter of finding the right colored cardstock and tearing some for texture. I paper-pieced my image, using Copics to give it dimension before popping it into my "garden". I kept my card simple with some faux stitches along the edges and my die-cut sentiment.

The challenge at Scribbles Designs goes through the 14th of May, so don't forget to link up your card or project to the main blog for you chance to win free digis at the Scribbles Store!! Good luck and happy crafting!

Challenges I am Entering:

Cardz for Guys - World Book Day (The Velveteen Rabbit)

Tuesday throwdown - critter crazy

Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes