4 CC #205 {Crazy Egg Challenge!}

Happy 4 Crafty Chicks Thursday!! My bestie, Leanne, and I are wishing you well from The Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose, AB! It's our yearly "girls weekend away" and we couldn't ask for better weather, company and a rockin' line up! Cannot WAIT to see Miranda Lambert! We will try to keep ya posted via FB - so stay tuned!

Now, onto the real reason you are here lol....

Whenever it works out that there are 5 Thursdays in a month, we make the 5th Thursday our "Crazy Egg" challenge and the theme is always ANYTHING GOES!

Krista from Saturated Canary gave all of her FB followers an awesome 35% discount on the weekend and I made sure to stock up on some images I've been swooning over for a while! Thank you again, Krista!! Your images are so fun to color and bring to life ♥

This adorable image is called A Tea and a Book....and I have a couple friends who really, really love their tea and books - perfect match, right?!? Right....I dug through some sentiments in my stash - looking for just the right one ... and came across this one that fits the bill perfectly - from Reverse Confetti. It's part of the Be A Barista set. I also used my new large polka dot embossing folder from SU! So fun!!


Be sure to check out what the rest of the Chicks have created for you - click HERE! I would like to take this opportunity to thank Calypso for being with us this month! She has been SUCH a pleasure to work with and her creations are super dooper gorgeous...thanks girl!! I sure hope you get a chance to get crafty with us - the doors are wide open this week - Anything Goes!!! Cheers!

TPE #261 {Anything Goes}

*** To see my Birthday BLOG HOP FOR LeAnne POST, please scroll down! ***

Welcome back to my blog!

This week, we are having a THEME challenge over at The Pink Elephant....and it's one of my ultimate fav's....

TPE #261 ... ANYTHING GOES!

I have had this cutie pie (Birthday Ezra) from byLORi Designs for a while now and decided it was time to bring him to life. I dug through my stash of designer papers and found some bright colors and got to work...this is what I ended up with:

I think he turned out awesome! Lori, thanks so much for making crafting fun with your images! He's adorable!

Please hop on over to the Pink Elephant challenge blog HERE to check out all the other creations that Ella's girls have made for you! Get inky with us and let us come leave you some love as well! Happy crafting!!

{Merry Monday SURPRISE!} Happy Birthday, LeAnne!

 

Welcome to the last stop in our surprise Birthday Blog Hop for LeAnne! You should have arrived from the uber-talented Kathy's blog and I sure hope you've enjoyed all the wonderful birthday goodies our Merry Makers have created especially for LeAnne! (If you'd like to go and leave her some birthday wishes, click HERE to visit her blog!) xoxoxo

Here is the complete list of hoppers if you'd like to start at the beginning:

Wendy Aungst
Lesley Croghan
Nina Forsyth 
Kristie Goulet
Debbie Henderson
Karren Johnson
Sue Joyce
Deanne Kay
Bonnie Klass
Katie Melhus
Margaret Moody
Kathy Schweinfurth
Lori Turner (that's ME!)

So, this week's regularly scheduled challenge has been bumped ahead (and poor LeAnne had NOOOO idea - we are such good sneaks!! ;) and we've made this week a BIRTHDAY THEME...so, if you'd like to play along with us, create a birthday card and add your creation to the hop on the main blog HERE or you can just hop along!

Leslie gave us a few ideas of what LeAnne's favorite things were and she mentioned blue and flowers ... well, I wanted to try this new-to-me set from SU! called Flower Patch along with the matching dies! Perfect time to use them....

I haven't known LeAnne personally for long, but I am so very honored to be "playing" along side her at Merry Monday and I have admired her "cyberly" for YEARS! LeAnne, you are such an inspiration to the crafting world...I am wishing you the biggest, happiest, most spoiled birthday yet!! Happy Blooming Birthday!! xoxoxo

4 CC #204 {Inspiration Week}

Happy 4 Crafty Chicks Thursday!! It's my turn to play challenge hostess this week and I am using this oh so cool and trendy cake as the inspiration for the week....

Photo Credit

I came across this super cute birthday image from Redonkadoodles a while back and knew exactly how I wanted to color her up - with these colors....I pulled more of the blue out of the cake and did some with the green - could have been a wee bit brighter but that's what I have to work with as far as my Copics stash goes. Time to increase it maybe hey?! :)

My sentiment is from a sentiment sampler from Papertrey Ink....

I hope you get some time to get crafty with us Chicks! I know summer is a very busy time for most people, but if you need a little break from all the yard work, gardening and housework - come enter our challenge this week - would love to see what you come up with using my photo! Happy crafting!!

STS #25 {Adore}

Happy Seize the Sketch Tuesday!!

This week, Mona is giving us the following sketch to play with:

 My image is Isabell from Saturated Canary - I think I have a new-found addiction :P Krista's images are so cute:

I hope you get some time to come and get crafty with us girls this week!! We are super excited to see what you come up with for Mona's sketch! Link up your creation HERE....happy crafting!

{Material Girl} Special Guest at Top Tip Tuesday!!

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I am so excited to be sharing this post with you all today! The challenge over at Top Tip Tuesday this week is "Material Girl" and Samantha contacted me a month or so ago and asked if I would do a special guest tutorial for her specifically for this challenge - ABSOLUTELY! I was so honored that she asked me.....She asked if I would do a tutorial on "Coloring and Shading with Copics.

"For the "Material Girl" part of the challenge, you can use jute, felt, denim, cotton, or read into the actual title of the challenge...

I am not a certified Copic "colorer" or anything - just to set that straight right from the get-go! LOL...I am just a girl who loves to muck with coloring - I find it very relaxing and therapeutic and I spend a lot of time watching You Tube videos and tutorials watching how the PRO's do it ;)

I am using a new-to-me image from Your Next Stamp called Isabel and my sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. I always stamp (or print out if it's digi) onto X-Press It Blending Cardstock if I'm going to be coloring with Copic markers....let's get started:

For skin, my go-to colors are E50 for the base and E11 and E13 for shading. I color in my whole skin area with E50, then I use E11 first to find my shadows and color those in:

...then, I blend the 2 together with my E50 again.

Here, I have added my E13 for a bit darker depth (you don't need a lot for an added punch!!) - then blend once more with E50:

For the hair, I went with color combo E35, E37 and E57....adding the lightest color first, I leave white areas for the "light" and then add darker colors to the darker areas of her hair (by the neck, the curls, the top of her head for her streaks)

Once I add all my colors for the hair, I go back and blend with "flicking motions" to create the look of natural streaks and light source areas...I still need A LOT of practice with hair - to me, it's the most difficult area of an image to color with Copics:

 For the rest of the image, I didn't take as many pictures as you probably get the idea of how I color...add the lightest color first, add the next darker color and go back and blend with the first - as you can see in the example of the baskets: 

Here is the final product: 

For my "material" part of the challenge, I cut out flowers from yellow felt and added more gumdrops to the centers for a pop of color! :)  Be sure to hop on over to the TTT Challenge blog to see what the other uber-talented DT have in store for you!!

Thank you so much, Samantha, for having me today!! I have never done a tutorial before so you've helped me step out of my comfort zone girlie! I am so honored to be featured on Top Tip Tuesday today. Hugs!

TPE #260 {I am a REAL Girl!}

Welcome back friends! This week at The Pink Elephant, Ella has a "THEME" for y'all:

TPE #260 {Summertime!}

What a super-awesome theme for us this week - here in central Alberta, we are FINALLY getting some gorgeous, sunshine-filled, HOT days of summer! My card this week showcases a fun Saturated Canary stamp called "Bikini and Burgers" and I had a TON OF FUN coloring her up - I decided to go wild and crazy with her hair ;)

I really like the quote on this image as well....

Here's the final card:

 Please take some time to hop on over to The Pink Elephant's challenge blog to check out what Ella's girls have in store for you! The "summertime" projects are out of this world! Cheers!!

Merry Monday #118 {Buttons & Ribbon!}

Happy "Merry Monday!"

This week over at Merry Monday Christmas Challenge, it is my turn to play "challenge hostess" and here is my theme for the week:

 

 

 When I came across this photo I knew that it would make an awesome challenge since I have 4 large IKEA jars FULL of buttons on display on my shelf! YUP...on display, cuz they don't get used very often ;) Time to start using them more :)

The designer papers are from Bazzill called "Nordic Pines" and I used the notepaper die from Paper Smooches and my star dies are from 'Lil Inker Designs....I added black ribbon and red/white twine along with 2 buttons!

The rest of the Merry Makers totally blew my socks off this week with their creations - come check 'em out HERE! Link up your card using RIBBON and BUTTONS for us - and we'll be along to leave you some luvin' too - and you also have the chance to be our Guest Designer if your card is chosen as our weekly winner! Happy crafting!

{Your Favorite Stamp} at Sweet Stampin'!

Happy Saturday!! This week the girls at Sweet Stampin' wanna see YOUR favorite stamp! I have loved Lacy Sunshine stamps for a while now, and this one in particular, Hippie Eleanor, has always been one of my ultimate favorites! In all honesty, I don't really have ONE favorite stamp at all - if you saw my stash of stamps, you'd know I have wayyyy too many favorites! ;)

Our weekly sponsor is Quixotic Paperie - offering up a £10 Voucher

 

My "peace" sentiment is from a Paper Smooches set called Christmas Sampler...I just used the "peace" part of it lol...I added some flowers and sprigs of purple/white leaves and embossed the 2 layers behind Eleanor. I hope you enjoy her as much as I do!

Thanks for stopping in today - be sure to check out what the other Sweeties have created for you using their favorite stamps - click HERE! Have a wonderful weekend - hope you get some time to get inky!!

4 CCC #203 {Outdoors}

Happy 4 Crafty Chicks Thursday!

Miss Tamie is our challenge hostess this week and here is what she's looking for:

4 CCC #203 {Outdoors}

That leaves the door WIDE open on what you can create! Anything that is "outdoors" related, let's see it! For my card this week, I had this cute digi already colored up and ready to go - gotta luv having a stash ready!!

Please be sure to check out what the rest of the CHICKS have for you - HERE! Link up your "Outdoors" creation for us and we'll come leave you some luvin too! HUGS!!!

TPE #259 {Interactive Cards}

Welcome back friends! This week at The Pink Elephant, we have a Technique Challenge for you:

TPE #259 {Interactive Cards}

This week, we wanna see some shakers, sliders, spinners, action wobbles, pop-up cards, etc! You name it - if it's interactive, we wanna see 'em!!

I haven't done a shaker card for YEARS, so that's what I decided on for my project this week. I cut my window using my "Lil Inker Designs stitched rectangle die, then filled the shaker with various sequins from Pretty Pink Posh....Added some grass, a sun and a sentiment and wa-laaaa! Instant FUN! :)

Hop on over to The Pink Elephant challenge blog HERE and check out the amazing projects the rest of Ella's girls have in store for you! You will NOT be disappointed.....shake, shake, shake!!! xoxoxo

Merry Monday #117 {Sequins!}

Welcome back to another week of creative inspiration from the Merry Makers at Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge! This week, our challenge hostess is Deanne and she's issuing the following:

WAHOOO! How fun is that?!? Sequins are all the rage right now - and I love 'em! I decided to keep it CAS this week, and dug out an oldie-but-goodie stamp set from Stampin' Up! called The Sounding Joy:

The gold sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh...be sure to click on over and check out her stash - you'll fall in love and want every color, I promise! ;)

Please take some time to check out what the rest of the Merry Makers created for you, HERE! They sent this one right out of the ball park - amazing creations for your inspiration! See you back here shortly for my project for The Pink Elephant's challenge this week - it's a real "shaker!" ;)

4 CCC #202 {Inspired by Song}

Happy 4 Crafty Chicks Thursday everyone!! This week, miss Tina is our challenge hostess and she's got a very interesting challenge for you:

4 CCC #202 {INSPIRED BY SONG}

I went digging through my stash as I "knew" I had this image that fits the challenge PERFECTLY....she's from Kenny K....

....and one of my favorite songs is "Roar" by Katy Perry - so that's the sentiment....

I am entering this card also into the Kenny K Krafty Krew challenge this week:

Anything Goes with the twist of Stripes and/or dots....:D So fun!!


This was a fun challenge, Tina, thank you!! I hope you all will hop on over to the 4 Crafty Chicks blog and see what the rest of the Chicks have in store for you - and come get inky with us! Cheers!!!

STS #24

This week, our sketcher at Seize the Sketch is Vicki and it's one you can do CAS or decorate it up big time! I decided to keep it CAS:

This freebie cutie patootie image is from Sherri Baldy

Please be sure to hop on over to the STS Challenge Blog and see what gorgeous creations the rest of the Sketchers have for you!! You will NOT be disappointed! Happy crafting!!