Feeling like fall...

Good morning friends! It is time for another challenge over at Mo's DP challenge and the hostess this week is one of the most awesome, beautiful and talented people I know. Yep, that would be me hahahha! I truly am very modest but heck, if I can't write it on my own blog where can I write it?

Anyways, our challenge for the next two weeks is "Fall", I can feel it here in the air in lovely Western Pennsylvania and I love this time of year, just wished it lasted longer. It seems like the trees are full of beautiful leaves then it rains and blah. Enough of my babbling, here is my card.

This is Elke and bear and I have wanted to color her for awhile and thought the peaches reminded me of fall. I just got this paper at my lss and fell in love with it so don't be surprised if you see it again.

Okay, we love to see what you come up with and don't forget our "Anything Goes" challenge over on our facebook page all month long. You have the chance to win both places if you play along!

Kit and Clowder September challenge

Hello everyone! Woohoo its the weekend and guess what I am gonna do this weekend? Make up my creations for the Heartfelt Creations semifinalist try out! I got my goodies today and I tell you, they are all lovely but that paper is amazing, I will use every sheet in it and I rarely say that.

Okay, I know that isn't what you are here for but I am excited and wanted to share and thank everyone that has been generous enough to vote for me and leave me such wonderful comments, I am truly appreciate them all.

Today starts the September challenge for Kit and Clowder and we are being sponsored by the ever adorable The Greeting Farm stamp company and we have a color inspiration this time, you will have two palettes to choose from and they are offering a $25 gift card to the store for the winner.

I chose to use the coral one cause I have fallen in love with this color over the summer and here is my card using Dollie with bow.

I will list my copic colors below if you would like them. The tag is by Penny Black and the sentiment is by Little Darlings rubber stamps. I added the foliage at her feet with a stampendous set I believe then some stickles for a little glitter and color.

Skin E000-00-11-13 R20
Hair N3-5-7-9
Dress R01-02-05-08 E08

Heartfelt Creations semi finalist!

I was up early this morning because I knew they were going to post the semi finalists for the Heartfelt Creations dt entries and lo and behold, there was my name! I love the stamps and dies from this company and am tickled pink to be given a chance to try out for the dt. They are asking fellow crafters to vote for their top five and I will list all of the links for the other participants below. I went thru and checked them out and I am up against some wonderful crafters! I want to wish all of us good luck and if I make it then I am thanking you for voting for me also!

DT Semifinalists: Today we are pleased to announce the Heartfelt Creations Design Team Semifinalists. Choosing from such great talent and diversified submissions is very difficult and we appreciate all the applicants that participated in the design team call. Without further ado, here are the semifinalists: Karen Conner, Maureen Russell, Karen Letchworth, Susan Smit, Joyce Erb, Amanda Reed, Shellie Geigle, Debbie Seyer, Jolande van Oosterhout, Archana Joshi, Shona Ratliff, Robin Tharaldson, Candy Slabaugh, Mallika Kejriwal, Marzena Ziuziakowska, Tracey Fehr, Susannah McManus, Anne Harada, Shena Garton, Sandie Dunne, Nupur Priya and Gloria Stengel

Vote for your favorite Semifinalists: We would love to have you particpate and vote your 5 favorite semifinalists. Review each one of their blogs and then CLICK HERE to submit your vote. When you vote, you will also be entered into a drawing to be eligible to win a $50 HC Gift Certificate. You can only vote one time and you have to select 5 or more to be eligible to participate. Voting ends on September 30th, 2014.

Thanks so much and hope you are all having as great of a day as I am!

Back to School!

Wow! I can't believe it has been two weeks since I posted last! Lots going on in the Reed household lately, some good, some not so much but hopefully I will be able to do a bit more crafting soon. I am actually on vacation this week but my husband is not listening to me when I say I need some crafting time, I believe he will regret that decision as the week progresses haha!

Today is time for another new challenge over at Mo's DP challenge and the so very talented Tracy is our hostess and she has asked us to use the theme "Back to School" for our projects this week. I have chose to use the image Bye Bye for my card.

I have to confess I was really trying to put lots of pleats in her pants and made them way too dark so I took my colorless blender pen to lighten them up and think it almost looks more like denim that way! I am taking the classes over at Kit and Clowder if you are looking for some great coloring techniques you should check them out!

Okay, don't forget that Mo is giving away a voucher to the store for the random winner for each challenge so make sure to play along, she has just added some great images and I know more are coming!

Girls Birthday!

Okay, so is this an easy challenge over at Mo's DP2 challenge or what? Elaine is our awesome host this time and she would like to see a "Girls Birthday card from us. Well, seeing as how I didn't pay attention a couple of weeks ago for the boys birthday challenge I was all set for this one!

I have been wanting to color this image up for awhile now and am really happy with it except the glittery Happy Birthday, just not sure about it but it is stuck so guess I am gonna have to be! She is called Fabulous and I absolutely agree!

I have added one of my shrink art butterflies on the bow, I think it adds a cute touch! Okay, lets see your creativity in action and you just might win a credit to the store. Also make sure you pop over and check out our facebook page, there is a lot of interaction and inspiration going on there!

August Challenge for Kit and Clowder

Hello everyone! It is time for the August challenge at Kit and Clowder and this month we want to see unusual hair colors. We are being sponsored by the East Wind company, they have some fabulous images.

I decided to make a bookmark with this image, she just seemed perfect for it. This is Lucy Loo bookaholic and I am in love with this image. Will definitely color her up again!

A bit different for me but I love it! I have always loved to read but tend to do more audible books nowadays but this will be perfect to mark my artbooks as I flip thru them. The sentiment is one I found on Pinterest and I also used embossing paste for the birdcage. The challenge will run thru the end of the month and the prize being given away is 3 free digi images of your choice from the East Wind store.

Copics

Skin E000,00,11,21,04 and R20

Hair Shinhan markers  BR103,93,92 and B66, 63 and 64

Book YG61-63-67

Creative Bloggers hop!

I have been asked by my friend Pam Henness to join in with the Creative Bloggers Hop. Its a continuous Hop Every Monday with a host of Different Inspirational Bloggers taking part each week.

Pam and I were on my first design teams together, Ladybug Crafts and I have to say Kerry, the ownder of LCI, certainly set a high standard for any dt leaders to follow, to say she is awesome is an understatement and I am forever thankful for the fellow designers I met there and am still friends with. Is this craft wonderful in so many ways or what?

So I am suppose to just answer a few questions for you to get to know a bit about me.

What am I working on?

I have just ordered a set of watercolors from the Billy Showell website and would love to learn to do botanical images. I have always loved anything botanical and I will never know if I don't try right? I am also dabbling just a bit in mixed media, I need to be more "free" with my art which is difficult for me. I like everything nice and orderly.

 

How does my work differ from others in my genre?

I think my cards tend to be a bit simpler then a lot of others I see now, the trend seems to be "card overload". Although I admire people that can do this, it isn't my style and frankly, I don't like to hide the pretty paper I am using! I tend to focus more on my coloring then the embellishments although with the stash I have I better start using some more!

 

Why do I write/create what I do?

I have always had my hands busy in some type of art form, I can quilt, do stained glass and now of course cardmaking but I love cards most of all. First off, no pricked or cut fingers from sharp edges haha! And a card comes together much faster then a quilt or stained glass. I love being able to make something to give to someone that I am proud of and to make their day just a bit better. Cause really, isn't that what we are here for? To make it just a bit better in our little area of the world?

 

How does your creative process work?

Well, I normally have a card due for a team or find a new image I really want to color up to begin. Then I pick out my papers, I like to pull my colors off of them to color with and it also gives me the "feel" of the card at that time. Then off to Pinterest for some layout and embellishment ideas.

 

Okay, now I get to pick three bloggers to answer the questions and my choices are: 

 

Elaine


 

 Elaine is my best friend in the world. Everyone should be so lucky to have a friend like her. She was one of my first followers and I had the best time visiting her in England this summer. Her creations are always gorgeous yet elegantly simple and I thank God everyday for putting her in my life.

 

      Sheri

 

I met Sheri while I was on the Kraftin Kimmie dt and we have been fast friends ever since. She is my go to person for anything Silhouette related, she can use that machine like nobodies business! I love the themes she uses on her cards and her projects go beyond the simple cards I tend to do. Love her to bits!

 

 

Alyce

 

My coloring friend extraordinaire! Have you seen her classes over at her website? If not, you don't know what you are missing out on! She is my go to person for coloring questions and just being silly. She constantly amazes me with not only her coloring but her generosity and true concern for all of her friends and students. Like Elaine and Sheri, we all have an immense love for our cats and this is frequently a topic of conversation.

 

I am so thankful for all of my friends in the crafty world, they are my second family and I don't know what I would do without them. Thanks for popping by!











 

Things with wings

Hello everyone! Today starts a new challenge at Mo's DP challenge blog and Anja is hosting our challenge this time. Also, if you haven't seen her tutorial on using colored pencils she just posted it to her blog and the facebook page. Our challenge for the next two weeks is "Things with Wings" and here is my sweetie.

This is one of the images in the 3 baby fairies set, I just love her holding the little ladybug. Papers are Graphic 45 and the sentiment was a gift from my BFF Elaine, I believe it is Stampin Up.  I have also added some wink of stella to her wings but of course it doesn't show in the photo. The foliage at her feet is a clear stamp I used the added some stickles to.

Alright, please make sure to check out the dt creations, we always have such an awesome variety of things to show you and we love seeing what you come up with in return! Of course Mo is giving away a $5 credit to the store for every 25 entries and you can always enter your card into our Facebook challenge, it is always Anything Goes!

Power Poppy

Hello everyone! I am on a roll, three cards in the past week and another one tomorrow if you care to come back! This card was made for the Power Poppy challenge which is a Peep of the Week, basically it can be anything as long as you use one of their images. Well, I have almost all of the digis and a friend recently put out a request for some cards for a friend that wasn't feeling well so I thought it was the perfect time to color another one up.

This is the Gerbera Daisy image and I printed it off in a pale gray ink so I could try the "no lines" technique. Not too bad I think!

I hope everyone is staying cool and enjoying their summer!

Bluebird of Happiness

Hello everyone! I have a card I made just because I love the image, this is called The Buzzard from Art Impressions and it was one of the images I won from the challenge I played along with a few weeks ago, he is hysterical!

I would like to enter this into the current challenge which is an easy one, "Happy Birthday".

Thanks for stopping by!

Lavinia stamps

Good morning! Another different project for me today, this is one of the digital images from Lavinia stamps called Zen Bryony. I am entering this into the Lavinia challenge blog which is to use "Summer Colors".

She is colored with copics and I made all of the orange flowers to coordinate with her. A bit of white paint on her drops in her hair and some stickles on the bubbles floating around her for a bit of bling.  A simple easy card today!

Boy birthday!

Hello friends! It is time for another challenge at Mo's DP2 challenge and our challenge for the next two weeks is a "Boys Birthday" hosted by the wonderful Elaine. Please remember, it is a "boys" birthday and not a "girls" birthday as err...someone else did haha!

I have used a newer image today called Blast, it also comes in a girl version too.

Papers are older MME I believe, I am trying to use older paper pads up as I can. He is colored with copics and the sentiment is included with the image. We love to see what you have to share with us and please make sure to join us over on our facebook page, we have occasional sales, lots of inspiration and some awesome camaraderie going on. Plus every month is our "Anything Goes" challenge so you can enter your card on the challenge blog and on facebook! Woohoo!  Hope to see you there!

Trying colored pencils

Good morning everyone! Since I have cut back on my dt obligations I have had some more time to play a bit with all of the crafty stuff I have and one of those is my colored pencils. And I have always loved anything botanical so I decided to play along with the latest challenge over at Power Poppy (love these floral images!) and try out my pencils for the first time without copics. So be gentle okay?

This is one of the latest releases called Countryside Bouquet and is a digi image, my fav! The challenge this week is to go with your countries colors, I was shooting for red, white and blue but think mine ended up being more pink, yellow and purple. Still pretty though and the thought was there! The sentiment is a freebie from the site. I have used my spectrum noir pencils for this and they blended together really easily so I am happy so far. More practice just like anything else though to get better highlights and shadows but it was fun to try something different. Oh, papers are Pion that my BFF Elaine gave to me and I have been hoarding.

I would like to enter this into the Power Poppy challenge.

Art by Miran

Good morning everyone! We have a new sponsor over at the Kit and Clowder blog for our monthly challenge and this month we are all coloring images by Art by Miran and here is a link to her etsy shop and her facebook page.

Our challenge this month is "clothing" to correspond with the awesome newly released clothing class at Kit and Clowder and I have tried my hand at the "dip dye" look Alyce has taught in the class.

My image is Rosy cheek Emma, I have never been a big Manga fan but I LOVE her images! I will list my copic colors below, papers are by LOTV and the butterflies are MFT dies I believe. I have also added a small portion of a diecut from La La Land at the bottom with a touch of flower soft across the grass portion. A smidgen of light blue frantage around the edges and she is done.
The winner of the challenge will get three free images of their choice from the store. Please make sure to link up your cards at Kit and Clowder challenge for us to see them, we love to see how people are coming along with their coloring!

Copics

Skin  E000-00-11-04  R20

Dress B12-14-16-18 and Y11-13-15-17 YR24

Hair  Y21 YR23-27  E59

Leaves  Shinhan  GY48  G46-54  BG52

Rose RV63-66-69



Its a girls world!

Hello everyone! It is time again for Mo's DP Challenge and the lovely hostess this week is Mau, she would like us to use the theme "Its a Girls World". That worked out perfectly for me as I was commissioned to do a girls card for her 16th birthday.

This image is Jordan Multitasking but I have colored her to be Caucasian to fit my needs.

Okay, so my card says "Congratulations" cause I misunderstood what she needed but pretty sure I can fix it lol! My papers are older MME and the flowers are WOC.

Okay, we love to see you play along with us and I know Mo has recently released several new images so what are you waiting for?

Lavinia stamps challenge card

Alright everyone, stepping outside of my comfort zone a bit here! I came across a webshop for Lavinia stamps and really would love to play along in their challenge blog to win some of their images so here is my attempt.

I have used the digi Zen butterfly on my card and the challenge is beads or gems so I have added small gems to the wings of the butterfly. They are actually for on fingernails but hey, they fit so I used them!

I have used a heart stencil and applied a mix of glitter and embossing paste for some glimmer and a frantage embossed chipboard word in the corner. A bit of stickles on the tips of the wings and it is done. Oh, the image is only glued down along the body so the wings are floating and I colored the back of it with a blue copic so it doesn't look odd from the sides. Alright, wish me luck! I want some of those stamps haha!

Art Impressions birthday card

Good morning! Today I wanted to show you a card I made for my moms birthday, I have a feeling I might enjoy it more then her though! I have a few Art Impression stamps and have never got a chance to use them so today is the day. This image is called Fire Out!

I have used a mix of both copics and Shinhan markers, some embossing paste for the clock (time flies ya know!) and some metal corners from Wild Orchid Crafts that I painted white. I was going to add some candles or her age on it but thought I best leave well enough alone.

I would like to enter this into the Art Impressions challenge which is "Hip to be Square".

Tiddly Inks release

Good morning! It is a beautiful day here in Pennsylvania today and Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there. Mine is in heaven now but I still chat with him most days. I just look up and blabber away!

Today the Kit and Clowder dt have the fun of joining in along with the Tiddly Inks girls for their latest release! I use to be a Tiddly Inks girl a couple of years ago and Christy is one of the nicest people you will ever meet on top of having really cute images! Make sure you hop over to the Kit and Clowder website as I believe there are some giveaways happening this weekend!

I have used Beary Sweet for my image today and here she is...

Papers are by LOTV, I bought several pads there this summer, they are really nice! Sentiment by Whimsy stamps and I white embossed a butterfly image onto vellum and cut it out for the embellishment plus some little jewels for its body. Copics are listed below.

Copics

Skin  E000-00-11-04  R20

Dress  YG23-25-67

Shoes  N3-5-7

Panda  N1-3

Hair  E53-11-23-57



Summer flowers

Happy Thursday friends! It is time again for a new challenge at DP2 Challenge and the lovely Nela is our hostess this time and she would like to see us use the theme of "Summer Flowers". I have playing with making my own flowers recently so this challenge was perfect for me!

I have used the image Imke and Mama today, her dress looks a bit bright in the photo but it isn't quite that vibrant irl, I was trying to match the roses in the paper.

I also love the sentiment on this card, it is definitely my life's motto. I will list the copics I used at the bottom of the post. My flowers are colored with distress inks and I used microbeads for the centers. I have also lightly colored in the sky with a light blue pencil. My flowers are a bit glittery even though you can't see it, I have added dots of metallic pen on them for some dimension. Don't you wish flowers were glittery irl too? Haha!

Okay, we love to see you play along and have you checked out our facebook page? We have lots of fun over there and love to see your projects there too. Plus we have monthly GDT calls so come join in!

Copics

Skin  E000-00-11-23  R20

Dress (Shinhan) R8-3-2

Apron  W1-3-5

Shirt  RV21-23



Shabby chic!

Good morning everyone! Today is the start of the June challenge for the Kit and Clowder website and this month we are being sponsored by Live and Love crafts and CC Designs and CC Designs has been generous enough to give us some of their new release stamps to play with and our theme this month is "Shabby Chic".

Here is my card:

I have used one of my new Go Kreate dies and added some lace, flowers, white paint, pearls and glitter which in my mind equals shabby chic! I just can't rip paper, I just can't!

Our winners will be given a $20 voucher for CC Designs and one will get a 10 pound voucher from Live and Love Crafts. Make sure you post your entries at the Kit and Clowder site for your chance to win!

Copics

Skin  E000-00-11-23  R20

Dress YG01-03-63-67

Hair YG21-26  E35-59