Final Friday Challenge with Paper Garden Projects ~

** Second Post for today, be sure to scroll down a little for the new Sketch Girl post - Sketch Girl 17 **

Good Morning!  I cannot get out of my mind that today is Saturday!  Lucky me because it's Friday, so I get another day to ready myself for my stepdaughter's birthday!  Anyhow, I'm back today with the Fourth Friday (really it's the fifth, so we'll just call it the final Friday) Challenge.  We're doing a color challenge this month - Don't Be Blue!  Well, you can be blue, just don't be sad...

Here's our inspiration photo.  Your challenge should you choose to accept is to create a project using these 3 colors.  You can add other colors if you wish - but include at lease a smidgen of each of these 3.

You have till midnight (EST) of Friday May 7 to add a comment to this post with a link your project. We will draw one random winner for the prize.

The rules are:
It must be a newly created project for this challenge - but feel free to combine this challenge with any other ones out there.
We'd love to see all the art you care to share, but each person will only be entered in the drawing once.
The winner will be drawn randomly and announced the following Saturday.
In honor of Mother's Day, the prize is this lovely Rachelle Anne Miller Bundle of Joy stamp.

Fun, huh?  Great!  Get to crafting!  Oh, you want a little inspiration first?  Ok, here is Cheerio Chester!

Chester is stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics.  The sky is added with Pebbles Pearlescent chalks and the ground with Koh-I-Noor pencils and OMS.  The background papers are made with the new PTI set A Little Argyle.  Uh oh!  I may use this set a lot...I love it!!!  I really wanted to add the sentiment, "Cheerio!", because he's just such a dapper little fellow and he looks like he's tipping his hat to you.  I couldn't figure out where to place it though!  Now that my head is a bit clearer this morning, I have an idea so I may have to update this picture. ;o) 
Bop on over to the rest of the gardener's blogs for some more amazing inspiration!

Amber    ~  Andrea  ~  Cathy  ~  Erin  ~  Linda  ~  Tangii  ~  Tricia

Thanks again for stopping by!  I appreciate all of you and your comments!  Have a great Friday!!  The weekend is almost here :o) lyss
SUPPLIES ~
STAMPS: Kraftin' Kimmie Chester; PTI A Little Argyle
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black; SU Chocolate Chip, Green Galore & Pacific Point
PAPER: Neenah Crest Solar White; Prism Intense Kiwi, Suede Brown Medium & Baby Blue Dark
OTHER: Copics {110 Spcl Blck, B21, B24, C7, E00, E02, E55, E57, E59, G07, YG03, RV11}; SU dimensionals; Sakura gold gel pen

Sketch Girl 17 with Frenzified ~

I accidentally hit Publish, so you may be seeing this early!  The rest of the Sketch Girl team will have their projects up on Friday, 4/30.  Whoops...

Hey all!  The Sketch Girl team is back with a super cool sketch drawn by Annie again!  She's actually given us the option of two for this go round

How fun are these???  So many possibilities - this will definitely turn into a *Go to* sketch.  I actually have another one in mind right now with some cool flowers made out of household items but ran out of time.  Hmmm, sounds like maybe I'll have to play some more this weekend! 

Our sponsor for this sketch is Frenzified.  Morgaine, the owner and illustrator, has come out with a new line of cute critters.   There's a sweet little lamb, a polar bear, a cow, a butterfly, a fish and a sweet little cat!  I decided to play with the little kitty, which is a bit humorous because you won't catch me near cats in real life!  I'm so very allergic - I can only be in someones house that owns a cat for about an hour before I go nuts.  It's kind of a bummer...anyway, TMI!

K, now that I have this uploaded on blogger, my picture looks all washed out.  I've read of others complaining of this but haven't noticed it happening to me.  Hopefully, it looks all right on your screens.  I used the sentiment, "You're purrfect!", and repeated it several times on a piece of kraft cardstock.  The background poppy paper is actually stamped with Distressed Stripes and then sponged around the edges.  I was going for the tiger look and then realized this kitty has spots - lol - good thing you can't really see the stripes!

I needed the cat to fit in the circle element so I cut his tail out and then pulled that portion through the top of the circle die before running it through the Cuttlebug.  His little collar has a heart on it, so I added some Xmas Red Stickles to it and then tied the sentiment in with a few Stickles dots underneath it.  Lastly, I drew on some whiskers for the little guy but kind of jacked them up by trying to draw over them a second time.  Ugh.  Oh well, this will probably go to my niece and I don't think she'll notice!  lol 

Thanks for stopping by!  Don't forget to link up your creation with sketch 17 on the Sketch Girl blog for you chance at a fabulous prize from Frenzified!  Here are the rest of the lovely Sketch Girls for you to visit (some members taking a break have been left out of the list):

Guest Designer Teresa Kline  ~  Amber  ~  Annie  ~  Bonnie  ~  Harriet  ~  Jennie  ~  Jess  ~  Julie  ~  Sara  

Hope you come back later!  I will have a color challenge blog hop with all the ladies from Paper Garden Projects.  :o) lyss

SUPPLIES ~

STAMPS: Frenzified digi stamps cat and sentiment; PTI Distressed Stripes

INK: HP printer ink; PTI Pure Poppy & Vintage Touch inking system

PAPER: PTI Pure Poppy, Kraft & True Black; Neenah Crest Solar White

OTHER: Copics {BG10, E43, E44, G21, R29, RV11, W3}; Stickles Xmas Red; SU dimensionals; Spellbinders Classic Circle nestabilities

Sketch Girl 16 with Character Cafe revisited ~

I finally got it done!  I'm going to make this post fairly short and sweet as the afternoon/evening is creeping up on me and I still have a ton to do!  Here is my loose interpretation of Sketch Girl 16.

You'll have to flip it on it's end and then maybe do a mirror image, etc to get to where I made this into my card.  The DT was fortunate enough to be able to pick an image from The Character Cafe to play with.  Me being so into flowers, I chose the Sunflower set to color.  The set comes with 4 images - one plain sunflower and 3 others with various sentiments.
I chose to go with the plain image because I need a birthday card for my Grammy.  She will turn 93 on May 8th.  Amazing to think of all the things that she's seen and been through in her lifetime!!

I told you it is a loose interpretation!  That is what is so fun about sketches though - you are able to use them as a jumping board for a layout.  I really didn't want to cut this image, so I used the twine to visually separate the two main panels.  The button treatment is meant to mimic the sunflower (duh, I don't really need to explain that, do I...).  lol  The corner punch is from EK Success and is the Square Steps Slot punch.  It's currently 20% off at Paper Garden Projects!  Initially, I thought the two slotted corners could work as the circle elements in the sketch, but in the end, felt the card needed more.  I added some butterflies in Cameo Coral that are slathered with Fruit Punch Stickles.  The background is PTI's Background Basics: Tin Types.  This is a *go to* background set for me.  It's the easiest for me to line up and it adds just enough of a background without being overpowering. 

Ok, I'm leaving you with that now!  Don't forget that I have lots of fun coming for you tomorrow!  Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great evening!  :o) lyss

SUPPLIES ~

STAMPS: The Character Cafe Sunflower Digi; PTI Tin Types & Mixed Messages

INK: HP printer ink; PTI Ripe Avocado; SU So Saffron

PAPER: Neenah Crest Solar White; PTI Ripe Avocado; SU Cameo Coral & So Saffron

OTHER: Copics {E55, E57, E59, Y21, Y26, YG93, YG95, YG97}; White gel pen; SU dimensionals; Fruit Punch Stickles; PTI Vintage buttons Lemon Tart & Dark Chocolate; polished hemp twine; Square Steps slot punch; MS butterfly punch; Spellbinders tag dies

Getting ahead of the game ~

It's funny how cards stick in your mind the moment you see an image.  When I first saw this flock of birds congregated on the line from Life is Tweet, all I could see in my mind was a Christmas card - all because of the one bird holding a sprig of something.  To me, it looks like a dove holding an olive branch, leading me to peace, leading me to a Christmas card...you following along or am I just nuts???  lol

I grabbed some of my favorite Christmas papers - Basic Grey Wassail - and went to work with the latest There She Goes sketch.

I really like this sketch.  I struggle so much with patterned papers and combining them...yes, even when they come in the same pack together!  This type of sketch allows me to pick a couple that work together and use up some of that paper that I just *have* to have.  It always helps too if I think about my papers beforehand and color accordingly.  That's so hard for me too!

Ok, enough confessions for today.  The birds are stamped in Versafine Onyx black and embossed with superfine clear embossing powder.  The birds are colored with Copics to mimic doves and cardinals - two Christmasy type birds.  I inked up the edges with the PTI Vintage Touch inking system because it was just a bit too stark white.  I actually scrapped one of my initial ideas for this card.  I wanted to add a little liquid applique and glitter like snow hanging on the line.  I thought it wouldn't stand out enough.  What do you think?  Should I go back and add it?  If a majority says yes, I will do it and post another pic after it's done.

I finished the inside with some of the beautiful snowflake paper that was mostly covered up on the front of the card.  The sentiment is from PTI's set Snowflake Serenade.  It is also stamped in the Versafine ink - this is truly the best ink for detailed images and sentiments!

Thanks for stopping by today!  With any luck, I'll be back late tomorrow with my Sketch Girl 16 card as a little last minute inspiration!  Then Friday I'll have the new SG17 and a wonderful color challenge for Paper Garden Projects.  Next Monday is the first Monday of May (can you believe it??) which means the Kaleidoscope Krew will be back with a color challenge featuring Bugaboo Stamps.  Lots of fun coming at you all at once!!  Have a super evening!  :o) lyss

SUPPLIES:

STAMPS: Impression Obsession Life is Tweet; PaperTrey Ink Snowflake Serenade

INK: Versafine Onyx Black; PaperTrey Ink Vintage Touch inking system

PAPER: PTI Kraf t & SS White; SU Always Artichoke; Basic Grey Wassail

OTHER: Copics {C1, C3, G99, R39, R59}; PTI Rustic White twine & Scarlet Jewel Vintage button; SU dimensionals; superfine embossing powder

PTI Blog Hop: Tissue ~

Hello!  This is my first time participating in the PaperTrey Blog Hop!  The challenge for April was to use tissue paper on your card.

I finally got my PTI order yesterday afternoon around 5pm.  I could not wait to ink up the new sweet peas, so that is just what I did!  I decided to try the faux silk technique and make a Mother's Day card.  How's that for getting ahead of the game!  Yeah me!  lol

I colored my first sweet pea image with Copics and proceeded to look for a glue stick.  The first one was so dried up, I couldn't use it.  The second one was purple that dries clear...yeah, not so much!  So I had to quickly color another image.  Looked for another glue stick and could only find another dried up one, so I went with some spray on glue.  It's not perfectly clear, but it works!  The sentiment is from last year's set, Mother and is stamped in Versafine Onyx black and embossed with clear embossing powder.  The woodgrain is stamped on the Sweet Blush in ink of the same color.  The card needed just another pop of color so I added the Certainly Celery twill that is colored with a YG11 Copic.

The inside is finished with a beautiful sentiment from the Mother set stamped in the Versafine ink.  Here's a little detail shot too. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  This should be a fun hop!  :o) lyss

SUPPLIES:

STAMPS: PTI Background Basics: Woodgrain, Mother & Year of Flowers: Sweet Peas

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black; Versafine Onyx Black; PTI Sweet Blush

PAPER: PTI Sweet Blush, SS White & True Black

OTHER: Copics {BG10, R20, R22, R24, Y11, YG11, YG13, YG17}; black pearls; tissue paper; spray on glue; classic and scallop oval nestabilites; EK Success border punch; SU CC twill ribbon; clear embossing powder

Friendly Garden Walk Blog Hop ~

Welcome to the Paper Garden Projects Friendly Garden Walk!!

Take a stroll through the blogs of all the Paper Gardeners and enjoy some friendly inspiration. We're introducing some new gardening buddies so be sure to say "hi" to our new design team members.
While you visit, subscribe to each Gardener's blog and take note of each designer's name and their Friendly Word in their blog post. Once you finish your garden tour, send an E-mail to custserv@papergardenprojects.com with the list of designers and their Friendly Word.
Everyone who sends the correct list of designers and words will be entered in a random drawing to win a prize. You need to send an e-mail to the address above; please don't leave your list as a comment. You have until midnight (EST) on Tuesday, April 27 to send your list.
And the prize? How about a couple new little buddies (the OA Buddies cling set from The Greeting Farm)?

So enjoy the garden tour (feel free to bring along a friend!). Here is the garden tour guide list:

Cathy  ~  Amber  ~  Tangii  ~  Tricia  ~  Linda  ~  Erin  ~  Andrea  ~  Alyssa {you're already here!}

Well, yesterday I mentioned in my post that I had found something fun and exciting at the grocery store...that may have been a bit misleading!  I am one of those horrible people that shops at WalMart - I can't afford the other stores!  Anyway, I needed some saucers for beneath my houseplants and found these cool little 4" cork coasters for $0.87.  Hmmm, I wonder what it would look like if I stamped and colored on one...

This is for my wonderful friend, Danielle.  Friends are really what get us through things, aren't they?  Danielle and I are an unlikely pair at first glance but our personalities is what seals the deal.  She is very sarcastic, joyful and fun...and I am too!  lol  I'm just the heavily tattooed, biker chick while she's the soccer mom type.  We've been through so much over the past 7 years.   I'm extremely lucky to have her as a friend.  Even though she's a talented stamper herself, I like to make things for her. 

Anywho, back to the coaster.  I stamped 3 of the butterflies from an Amy R Stamps set in Memento Tuxedo Black.  Because of the porousness of the cork it was a bit, shall we say, blotchy.  I colored over the black parts with a black Copic and proceeded to color the butterfly.  Not the best of moves!  I had to keep removing the black ink from the lighter colored nibs of the other markers, so on the other butterflies, I colored with the lighter colors first.  Yep, I'm a thinker!  The *Dream* is a SU rub on that reminds her to do just that while she's at work, and I'm at home stamping!  lol

If you've followed my blog at all, you know I can't make something without making a matchy, matchy card to go with it.  I used this opportunity to make her a birthday card.

 

I wanted to keep it simple and show the beauty of the butterfly and the gorgeous Prism cardstock.  I'm not kidding, I've never used this stuff before Cathy sent it to me, and I love it!  Unfortunately, you can't tell from the photo but the orangey color is the textured side of the Prism - beautiful - so it doesn't need any extra stamping.   I stamped the Monarch in Versafine Onyx Black and embossed it in superfine clear embossing powder - I'm really on a kick with embossing but it just makes it all stand out so much better!  I used a real Monarch I have for inspiration in the coloring. The little dots on the outsides of the wings are actually white, so I dotted those with a white pigment pen.  The sentiment is another rub on from the same pack.

The inside is finished with some more of that beautiful paper and the additional butterflies from the coaster.  The sentiment is pieced together from a couple of PaperTrey sets. 

Ok, I hope you've enjoyed your stop here on the Garden Tour!  My word on the tour is SIDEKICK.  Remember to stop by all of the blogs on the tour, if you haven't already, and send your email in for a chance to win a super, duper adorable new Greeting Farm set.  Here's the list again in case you started here:

 Cathy  ~  Amber  ~  Tangii  ~  Tricia  ~  Linda  ~  Erin  ~  Andrea  ~  Alyssa {you're already here!}
Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!  :o) lyss

Tweet ~

Hey all!  Thanks for all your super sweet comments about my new cave - gotta use the space you've got, right?!  This card has been brewing in my brain all week, but I told myself that I wasn't allowed to create until I finished the organization!  Now I have about 6 cards that I want to finish by tomorrow! lol
This card is for Crazy 4 Challenges #33 {sketch} and Color Cue #3 {white, melon, gray/blue, golden yellow} I used PTI white and Stampin Up Bordering Blue, Groovy Guava and Summer Sun.

I used my new Life is Tweet clear set from Impression Obsession again.  It's so not my norm, but it's so fun to step outside of my own little *flower covered* box.  :o) 

This is my favorite image from the set.  It's stamped in Versafine Onyx black and embossed with superfine clear embossing powder, as is the sentiment.  I had the card all assembled and pictures taken when I realized that the sketch called for a sentiment.  I don't have any vertical sentiments {I cannot believe that!}, and the corner looked a bit bare.  The sentiment was added here to complete the visual triangle of the *tweet* and the two buttons.  Does that work?  The *tweet* is only a portion of the sentiment.  I inked up and embossed only the *tweet* because I figured that *tweet* is really *hello* in bird word!  {loving my *asterisks* here!}

It's kind of a clean and simple card for me.  Why do those take so long?? lol  The twine that is tied in the buttons began it's little life white.  I used a Copic to make it match - love those markers!!  They're expensive but oh.so.worth it!  The focal panel is cut out with a long rectangle and sponged with Bordering Blue chalk.

I'll be back tomorrow with a fun blog hop with the Paper Garden Projects team.  I'm excited to show you what I discovered while grocery shopping!  Thanks for stopping by today!  :o) lyss

SUPPLIES:

STAMPS: Impression Obession Life is Tweet; PaperTrey Ink Background Basics: Petal Power

INK: Versafine Onyx Black; PTI Fresh Snow; SU Groovy Guava

PAPER: PaperTrey Ink Stamper's Select White; SU Bordering Blue, Groovy Guava & Summer Sun

OTHER: Copics {B21, C1, C3, R02, R08, YG09, Y32, Y38}; PTI Rustic White Twine & Melon Berry buttons; superfine clear embossing powder; dimensionals; Sakura Clear and Orange glaze pens

The Stamp Cave & Fabulous Blog Candy links ~

WARNING: This post contains A LOT of pictures.  I, personally, like to get a good feel of others crafty spaces, so I took a lot of pictures of mine!

To begin, I'll show you a picture of my stamp cave that I took a few months ago and part of the reason why my husband was at his wits end.

We decided to knock a chunk of this back wall out to see what was going on under the landing of the stairs.  We assumed it would be empty and could be a great space for either toy storage for Zane or me.  ME!!!  Yes, I won...mainly b/c my hubby was sick of me pulling everything out into the kitchen to stamp b/c I didn't want to clean this up.  :o)

Here are the before's:

You can click on these to see them bigger if you so desire. We have an electrician friend that came over and put in an outlet so I didn't have to run extension cords out of the closet door anymore - WooHoo! We drywalled and I painted - knowing that this was really just going to be a stamp/storage cave that wouldn't be seen a lot.

This is the cave entry now...you can see how short my cave is.  It measures about 4' high by 6' long and a little over 3.5' wide.  I'm short (5'4"), so it doesn't affect me too much. I have a cute little mechanic's chair that I can sit comfortably on and zoom around my little space...love it!!

Before you duck into the cave, you can see the storage inside the closet.  This is where I have all of my ribbon (hate that ribbon spool thingy), some of the designer papers and all my PTI stamps (it is an addiction!).  There are also a couple of chalkboards lined up along the floor that need to be hung so the little guy has something to do while mommy is playing!  :o)

The back wall is two pieces of 3' melamine board - a nice smooth surface for stamping.  We hung 3 under cabinet fluorescent lights under a 6" top shelf for ample lighting.  I replaced the bulbs  with daylight bulbs.  I have them turned off b/c they gave too much shadow to the upper cubbies - I wanted you to see how I used every available area to organize things - see all the Stickles and chalk inks, etc.

Doesn't that row of PTI buttons just make you happy?!  I love it.  Notice my little tiara?  A sweet friend sent that for my bday last year as a bit of a gag, but I'll tell you, when I'm having a hard time with a card, sometimes I put it on and end up making something I totally love!!  Plus, the kiddo gets a kick out of making me wear it.  LOL 

I have to say that I was apprehensive at first about this little space, but once you're in there and everything is at your fingertips, it's so cozy!  Leading you on in a clockwise direction...

This is the wall to the right.  I was able to utilize some of the handy dandy plastic drawer cubbies that I already had that hold SO.MUCH.CRAP.CRAFTY GOODIES.  My Cuttlebug has a permanent place out right at the end of the desk - so handy!  All my nesties are up in a My Timeless Templates Filed with Flair - I need to redo it b/c I didn't use any kind of strong tape and it's falling apart.  Cuttlebug folders are also up on the desk wall top shelf in a recipe card box, all together and easy to get to.    

Now to your right is the back wall that is under the first part of the stairs...not a ton of space and we had to leave the supporting 2x4's in place.  I made this my permanent photo set up - now to just find a good light...Zane broke the Ott light I bought.  Damn kids!  

 You can see all my border punches are in the top cubbies - again, out where I will remember that I have them and use them more often!!  I have to have a fan in there b/c it gets a little stuffy, but it isn't in the way so it's all good.  Scissors are also hanging within reach!  The cheapo photo set up is resting on a file cabinet that holds all my PTI cardstock and some SU cardstock.  I wasn't able to get everything in there but am trying to thin out some of the old SU stuff anyway.

 Last is the wall to your left if you've just entered the cave.  I didn't want to hang anything on it that I might knock with my noggin or shoulder every time I came in.  I have those removable plastic hangers all over the place to keep embellishments and such right at my fingertips.  The board is a magnetic dry erase board that I can keep current projects or inspiration or whatever close by. 

That's it!  My little cave!  Hope you enjoyed the tour!  Before you go, I have a few really great blog candy offers to tell you about. 

Kadie at In My Mind's Eye is giving away a ton of paper and stamps...but only today.  I guess it's been on her blog for a while now, but I just ran across it today, so you should jump on over and enter yourself in for the goodies!!

My good and extremely talented friend Jen is having a blog candy celebration for her 3 year Blogoversary.  Lots of her favorite goodies are going into this as well as a few of her own adorable digi stamps from Wildflower Kids.  Bop on over, say hello and get your name in the basket for that one!

Last, but certainly not least, is Motivet.  They are having a blog candy to celebrate their daughter turning one month old!  So give that one a go too!

Ok, if you stuck around this long, you are a trooper, or you're greedy and just wanted the blog candy links! LOL  Just Kidding!!  Thanks for sharing in my new crafty space excitement!  Have a super day and cross your fingers that my PTI order gets here today...I'm getting antsy already! Jeez!  :o) lyss

Blog Candy link ~

Kellie is offering this fantastic blog candy for hitting 100,000 hits!  Holy schmoly!  I was all excited when I hit 10,000 sometime last week - ha!  For your chance to win, go here and follow all her rules to the *T*.  This entire spring kit from All that Scraps is absolutely adorable...just look at all the accessory stamps that could be used for so many other projects!  Well, what are you still doing here?  Follow the link and get yourself signed up...or don't, and give me a better chance at winning! {wink}  Have a super duper Monday! ~lyss

Thoughtful Birdie ~

Hey all!  Well, I'm almost done with the stamp cave.  I have a few more things to organize but just couldn't stand staying clean (read as non-inky) any longer!  ;o)  I mean, really, I got my kit from Paper Garden Projects at the beginning of the week and have been itching to play!  Card Positioning Systems has a really fun sketch this week too with Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps as the sponsor - nothing will get me stamping like a chance at some free rubbah!!  lol 

This is the Impression Obsession clear stamp set Life is Tweet.  I chose one of the tall birdcage stamps and stamped it in my favorite ink for detailed images, Versafine Onyx Black.  It gives such a clean, crisp image and stays wet just long enough to emboss it and give it that extra *pop*.  I chose to use my Copics to add a bit more to this image, so I had to emboss it b/c of the ink.  The birds are colored with BG72 and BG78.  I added a bit of an orange beak with a Sakura orange glaze pen and their ringed necks are colored with a white gel pen.  I grounded the image by drawing a line with a ruler and adding some shadows using C1 and C3.   The designer paper is the new Kaisercraft Peachy Keen.  Such fun, summery colors!!  Some of the papers are embossed and others are flocked like the 3 strips in the center of the card.

The cardstock is from Prism - holy batman!  I love this stuff!  I've only used PaperTrey Ink and Stampin' Up before.  Prism isn't quite as thick but it's textured on one side and super smooth on the other.  It really felt good to color with Copics too.  I'll have to try out a bigger image on it to see how well it blends and if it bleeds.   The buttons are from the aquamarine collection and are tied with some hemp twine.  I used a little strip of the leftover background paper on the inside.

That about wraps it up!  I may be back later with another card for this sketch.  It's such a fun one, and if I color up one of my KKS stamps and link it on their blog, I'll get double the *random* chances for some fun rubbah!!  lol  We'll see if the little guy naps or not...he tends to not, which makes mommy a little cranky!  Have a super great Saturday!  Thanks for stopping by!  :o) lyss

Sketch Girl 16 with Character Cafe ~

Hey all!  I'm still not totally back in my cave, which seems to be ok since my mojo decided to take a little vacation.  I decided that I really want to take things back into the cave in an organized manner.  Otherwise it will just become an even bigger mess that I won't want to take part of. 

Anyway, I was unable to play along with the Sketch Girls this week, but it's an awesome sketch!  The sponsor for this sketch is the Character Cafe.  The Character Cafe has a lot of adorable digi images for use in card making, scrapbooking, etc.  They are also currently looking for new design team members, so give them a look-see.  Here's the sketch:

Isn't it cool?!  I have a couple of ideas for this, so hopefully, I will be back with a little sample for you.  You have the next couple of weeks to play along for your chance to win a $10 gift certificate to the Character Cafe!  Just link up your creation here at the Sketch Girl blog.  Ok, off you go to the design teams blogs that actually have some mojo!  Thanks for stopping by today!!  :o) lyss

Guest Designer Teresa Kline  ~  Amber  ~  Annie  ~  Sara  ~  Jennie  ~  Jess  ~  Randee  ~  Harriet  ~  Tiffany  ~  Bonnie

A little news and a little card ~

Hey all!  I'm still in the depths of preparing the stamping cave.  It's pretty cool already, but I had it all painted bright white, prepped and ready for shelving...then along came the Zaniac.  I left the room for a short moment and came back unable to find him.  Since hide and seek is his new fun thing to do, I didn't think too much of it.  Then I heard a little something in the cave.  I crept in to find my son with a dark green felt tip pen drawing all over the walls!!  Now, I have to prime a few spots and repaint because the ink bleeds through - I know, I've already tried the 'just paint' thing.  Argh!!  Why did I want to have kids???  lol  Oh well!  I should be creating in my new space next week!!
I'm really here to tell you how thrilled I am to be a new part of the Paper Garden Projects design team!!!  Paper Garden Projects is a great on line stamping and scrapping store.  I'm so excited because of the variety of products - ones that I love, mind you - that are carried.  Stamp companies like Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps, The Greeting Farm and Flourishes to name a few, a wonderful variety of inks, Copic sketch markers, as well as all kinds of embellishments and papers.  So fun!!  I can't wait to get started.  Thanks Cathy for letting me be a part of the team!
I have a Kraftin' Kimmie card to share today too.  It goes along with the KKS challenge #23 ~ A Little Punchy:

This is Josephine.  She is colored in with Copics, sky added with Pebbles Pearlescent chalks and grass with Prismacolor pencils.  Background paper is stamped with PTI's Fancy Flourishes in Bermuda Bay on BB paper {Thanks Annie!}.  The center piece is punched with an EK Success border punch - that was a doozy to line up! Her love potion is glittered and then covered with Martha Stewart clear micro beads - not something I'll do again...it's just not the right application for this.

Here's the inside.  I left the Melon Mambo strip blank for whenever I decided on a sentiment to stamp on it.  The heart in the center of the beaker has glazed glitter on it.  All this means is that I covered it with glitter and then a thick coating of Glossy Accents.  This is something I picked up from Jen del Muro.  K, gotta run.  Hope you all are having a great Friday!  Cross your fingers for me that the primer/paint thing works!  :o) lyss

FHF: Kaleidoscope Krew's Color Challenge #1 ~

Hey all!  I have some exciting news to share with you today!  I'm part of a new blog called Friends Having Fun.  It's not only full of challenges but also interesting tidbits of information, stamping tips, weight loss and fitness, recipes and 'geek speak' where you'll be able to get your technical questions answered.  Bop on over to the blog to become a friend and follower.  A randomly selected *friend* will be drawn tomorrow, 4.06.10, to win 3 digi images from StampInsanity Stamps.
The part of the blog that I belong to is the color challenge group.  We are the Kaleidoscope Krew and on the first Monday of the month, we will share the color challenge with you!  Alison is our fearless leader and picks the fun colors for us to use.  Our challenge for April is

What a fun and bright combo to kick us off, right?!  I chose to do something a bit different for me and not color anything!!  I'm a little behind the times on this Big Shot/Sizzix die...I didn't want to buy it full pop from the SU! catalog.  I waited until I found it at the Sizzix booth at a scrapbooking expo in town.  I saved almost $10 on it - more money for my addiction!!  I also used the new Verve set, Feel the Sun, for the sentiment because I couldn't get the sunshine part of the color combo out of my head.  You can click on the picture to see it larger, but I'll still tell you what it says.  It reads, "Wherever you go, no matter the weather, always bring your own sunshine."

The background is stamped with the large scrollwork border stamp from Verve's Artful Elegance in VersaMark.  The scrollwork reminded me of the wrought iron fencing you'd find in an English garden.  I used the largest of the Mega Curved Rectangles nestabilities to cut out my card base and the inside panels are just a few steps down of the same die.  The flower centers needed a bit of extra dimension, so I ran them through the Swiss dots Cuttlebug folder and sponged them with Summer Sun ink.  The leaves are the Martha Stewart Twig punch.  I thought they really resembled the fern like leaves of daisies.  I also made this for Verve's Fun with Flowers contest that is going on right now.  Not a hard contest for me since I love flowers!  That's about it for this card! 

Be sure to bop around to the rest of the Kaleidoscope Krew's blogs for some amazing inspiration!

Alex  ~  Alison  ~  Julie  ~  Laura 

Thanks for stopping by today!  I probably won't be around for a bit.  My hubby and I are setting up a new stamping cave for me, so a lot of my stuff is packed away in bins awaiting their new space and organization!! I'm so excited!!!  Have a great Monday!  :o) lyss

Baby Bees ~

Well, I made it back!  I'm playing along with the Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge for the first time.  I, unfortunately, don't own any TE stamps...yet.  I'm not big on the cupcake stamps, from any company.  I'm not really into cupcakes period.  If you were to offer me a cupcake vs. a fresh fruit salad every day of the year, I bet I'd pick the fresh fruit 98% of the time.  I'm crazy...I know!  This sketch is really cool, and I have a new order for baby cards.  I thought I'd give this sketch a shot and knock out a couple cards on the order.  This also qualifies for the Paper Garden Projects challenge to utilize embossing.

I used the Baby Button Bits and Inside and Out Baby sets from PaperTrey Ink for these cards.  I made two of the bee cards hoping to make a few more with a couple of other images from the set. 

Sorry the picture is a bit washed out.  It's late and overcast, so I had to use a different light set up.  The three little panels along the bottom are embossed with the honeycomb image from Honey Bees.  I used buttons with 4 holes and black embroidery floss to somewhat mimic black stripes on the bees.  The wings are stamped on vellum, painted with Opal Shimmerz and popped up on little glue dots folded in half.

I used two stamps from the Inside/Out set for the inside.  It needed a bit more, so I drew a black outline with a scrapbooking pen at a quarter inch border.  

Thanks for taking a little peek!  Dinner is burning on the stove, so I'd better run!! Toodles :o) lyss 

Sketch Girl 15 with Phindy's Place ~

Hey all!  Sorry I'm a day late...I got on the computer in the morning and then went to go make some breakfast for my boys yesterday.  When I returned to the computer, the internet was running slower than dial up, and I was ready to throw the computer through the window.  I felt the best decision at that point was to step away!  lol  Luckily, it's working a bit better today.
Sketch Girl's sponsor for the 15th sketch is Phindy's Place.  Phindy's Place has tons of digi images that range from the whimsical side to adorable kid images that would be perfect for scrapbook pages.  The designers were lucky enough to be given the adorable Easter Joy image to work with.  It's so fun to color!!

I colored in my little bunny with Copics and then sponged some Pebbles pearlescent chalks for the sky and grass while the image was still in the die.  I like to do it that way because it gives you the illusion of another mat layer.  I just had to pair this up with the other new Perfect Presentation template for March, Spring Basket.  My little guy needs an Easter basket, so this is just perfect.  The template comes with the adorable picket fence that is so versatile...I already have a card planned with it...and also with the decorative mat layers all drawn out for you!  Love it!  I also couldn't resist running to Michael's the other day to pick up the Martha Stewart grass border punch.  I called beforehand and had them set it aside for me.  I was so glad that I did because it was the last one.  The handle is just punched out on both sides with a scallop border punch.  Nothing too fru fru here, it's for my little man!

This sketch has been turned so there are two variations for you to play with.  The randomly selected winner of this sketch will receive a $10 gift certificate to Phindy's Place!! 

Argh...blogger won't let me align those pictures better...sorry! 

You have until April 14th to link up your creations with this sketch here.  Before you head off to your craft room, dining table, closet under the stairs, wherever it is you create, bop around to the designer's blogs and gain some inspiration from their fantabulous craftiness!

March's Guest Designer Deanne Kuntz  ~  Amber  ~  Annie  ~  Bonnie  ~  Harriet  ~  Jennie  ~  Jess  ~  Julie  ~  Katie  ~  Randee  ~  Sara  ~  Tiffany

This card and basket also qualify for the color challenge over at The Pink Elephant {#60 pastels}.  Thanks for stopping by today!  I have a couple of baby cards that I've been working on this morning, so I may be back later!!  Hope you have a fantastic day!!  ~ lyss