Living the Good Life

Our school is losing a fine coach to retirement, and his party is tonight. Talk about waiting until the last minute!! I knew I had this Hambo Stamps digi-image in my growing Hambo collection, and thought it would be a perfect image for a Congratulations card.
I used Paper Trey cardstocks in coordinating colors to frame out my front and inside card faces. The patterned paper is called "Fish Wishes" from Paper Pizzazz. I stamped the sentiments from a Stampin Up set with CTMH Black ink.
The image is the most fun to work with! I printed my cool pool cat twice on white cardstock, once on tellow and once on patterned paper. I colored my image with Copics: YR02,61; Y15; RV13; R29 & G21
I pieced the colored image together with the patterned paper, all on top of a layer of yellow cardstock. Altogether there are three layers to him! I am fairly new to paper piecing and have been having a BLAST with this technique.
I hope my good buddy Vic will like the card. I know he will like the gift card to Home Depot that will go inside of it!!
This card is the first of many I plan on making this weekend in celebrtation of National Scrapbooking Day! So get out your supplies, lock the doors and craft to your heart's content!! And go check out Your Scrapbook Place Blog for some challenges and prizes!

Why did the Chicken Cross the Road?

The theme for this week's Hambo Hoedown is all about Respect for Chickens!! I got the cutest digi image from Hambo Stamps with which to color. Their challenge is to use the Farm Chicken-digi image with dots and stripes. The dotted patterned paper is left over from my Christmas paper stash, as well as the rest of the patterned papers. The bows are Martha Stewart, and I cut out the "Cars" paper with my Epic Six and Nestabilities dies.
I colored my daring chicken with Copics: Y11,15,17; YR02,16,61 & R29.
So why did he cross the road? The inside of my card tells you that he crossed the road..."to wish you a Happy Birthday!"
Now why don't you "cross the road" and visit Hambo challenge blog for some great prizes and a free digi image!

A Tisket, a Tasket a Heart-filled Basket

After working Sunday at two First Communion liturgies, my heart is filled with love and hope and faith. So I colored another Heart Basket digi image from Hambo Stamps and made a card. There's a young girl who made her First Communion yesterday who holds a special place in my heart. Her name is Reggie and she is battling Juvenile Diabetes. We started getting to know each other better when I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes. Now that classes are over, I'm going to miss her, and look forward to seeing how much she has grown when classes resume in the Fall.
Meqanwhile, I made this card using her and the Hambo digi image as my inspiration. I just caught a wonderful packm of patterned papers at a rummage sale and found this delectable paper of purple flowers (I call them snowballs) to use as the background. Her dress was full of lace with tiny white flowers all over, so I added the lace in spots and added some handmade flowers (thank you, Anna).
I colored my image with COpics: E00; V09; RV09,11,34; R29 AND B63
I pieced three layers of the image together for dimension, and glitzed the hearts with CTMH Liquid Glass and Stickles brand clear glitter.
The inside of the card carries the sentiment "Sending All My Love", which is also a digi image that cpomes with the heart basket from Hambo Stamps.
This card is entered in their Hambo Hoedown challenge this week, which asked for one of their images, along with lots of lace and flowers. i think I got the lace and flowers down, don't you??

Do You Believe in Fairies?

I believe!! And I certainly believe in coloring them up for some Mother's Day cards (and thank you's and birthdays and get wells, etc)! This gorgeous fairy is one of the stamps you get in the new Fairyopolis Spring Stamp Set from Crafter's Companion. Look at the detwil of this fairy--she is gorgeous! I couldn't wait to color her when I got her.
I used papers from a leftover card kit, glitzed the card with Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels, gelly rollers from Sakura in Black and Clear Star, and a jewel here and some pearls there. I colored my Fairyopolis Spring Fairy with the following Copics: G00; BG10,15; Y11,17; E00,37 AND RV11.
I used feather Butterfly wings from OTC on my card, and the flower is handmade (not by me) from wallpaper samples. The alphas are from ColorBok.
My mom is a fan of fairies as well, so I hope she'll like this card!
So my question stands---do you believe in fairies? If you do, I know you will love the new stamps from Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog, and they are offering a prize package for their new May challenge, so don't forget to chekc them out!

Friends in Need

This week's Hambo Stamps digi-image was the perfect focus for a card I had planned to make for a friend going through a rough time. Her whole life is about to change, hopefully for the better, but none of us really like change, do we? We get set in our ways, comfortable with the daily routine, sometimes stuck on a narrow path of creativity...I wanted to let her know how much I respect her decision, regret the circumstances that led to it, and love and support her in all ways.
So Hambo Stamps has this Heart Basket-digi that I had fun placing on a card for my friend. I actually combined paper-piecing with Copic-coloring and the basket is three layers. The papers, flowers, lace and ribbon, and adhesive-backed flourish border are all leftover pieces in my stash, their identifying packaging a thing of the past, unfortunately. I ink-distressed the card's inside and face with Tim Holtz Distressing Vintage Photo Ink by Ranger (I love inking, don't you?), and colored the image using the following Copics: R29, YR02, E08, YG03. I used CTMH Liquid Glass, Red Stickles and Sakura White Gelly Roll pen for the glitz. The HAMBO sentiment and journal box are framed with Paper Trey cardstock, which matches the basket on the front.

Hambo sends everyone who participates in their challenges a free digi to use in their next challenge. What a great chance to add to your image stockpile!! Click HERE to go to their challenge blog.

Can't Stop Coloring this Midget King

I was asked to make treats for my granddaughter's dance class next week. I found a bag of these cute round plastic containers that are a perfect size for small treats, and couldn't resist coloring up a few more King-digis from Hambo Stamps. I printed them as small as I could while still giving me room to fill in with color, which I of course did with my Copics (100, E00, E35, Y17, B12) and my new fave, a Zig Brushables in English Lavender, perfect for creating shadow and dimension.
The beautiful flower was created by a crafting friend from Scrapbook PlaCE Yahoo Group. You should check them out, we're a group a friendly creative women who enjoy making new friends, swapping materials and having fun.
The rest of the items used were leftovers from my stash. I am REALLY trying hard to use my things and not buy new, but it is SOOOOOO difficult when companies like Queen kat and Hambo and Crafter's Companion and SOOO many others keep presenting lovely new items to buy, buy, buy!!!! LOL Did I mention I am in love with Mami Doodles and Whiff of Joy and...well, check out the list on the right, there are some great links there!
Back to my project, there are six girls in the dance class, and I have just enough containers for them. I think I should make a larger item for the instructor!

Birthday Princess

Today's card features a digital image from Hambo Stamps. He is called King-digi and is available for purchase.
I colored him with my trusty Copics, using the royal colors of purple and gold. The crown was paper pieced, and I glitzed him up with Stickles. I handprinted the sentiment, and added gold sequin flowers and a Martha Stewart flower that I colored again witgh a Copic. All papers, including the embossed and corrugated ones, are leftovers from swaps and such. The golden yellow gross grain ribbon was pulled out of a baggier I bought from a rummage sale!
I can see His Highness announcing all kinds of delightful get-togethers and events, can't you? He's a very versatile chap!