Beware of Saber-Tooth Smilidon!

     Oh, my, what a fierce creature!  Just look at those vicious fangs!
   
     I'm really crazy about Heather Valentin's digis and use them as often as possible but I found this one in the $1.00 Retiring section on Sunday and without any doubt, it's my favorite of anything she's ever drawn!  I'm sorry to see it retired and am so glad I got it before it was gone forever.  I wish I could talk Heather into doing an entire series with this darling Sabrina Smilidon!  Without further ado --

     Sabrina is colored with ProMarkers and I added clear embossing powder (heat embossing) to the flowers and her little butterfly for the shine.  The image is die cut with a Deckled Rectangle die from Spellbinders.  I ran the card front through my "Linen" embossing folder, then adhered the matted image.  The largest flower has layers punched from hand-made paper and embossed by using a stylus to make the lines in the petals.  The other flowers and leaves were in my stash and I added the tiny pearls and the gem stone for a little bit of girly flash.  CAS but for the flowery embellishments.

     Challenges:
ABC Challenges -- 2 kinds of embossing
Crafty Boots -- Animals
Creative Creations -- Anything goes
Friends of Speedy TV -- No patterned papers
Lacy Sunshine -- Anything goes (must have LS image)
My Craft Creations -- Anything goes
Outlawz Greetings -- Embossing
Path of Positivity -- Caring
Tammy's Scrappin' Corner -- Fantasy creatures (saber-tooth smilidon!)
Through the Purple Haze -- Flowers

     I hope you love this frighteningly adorable smilidon as much as I do.  :-D  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Naughty List

     This is the next in the daily cards I'm making for the Catch the Bug Christmas-in-July challenges going on through Friday.  Today's theme is "Make us Laugh" and I hope this one does it for you.  :-D

Sketch is from Try Stampin' on Tuesday.

     This Bugaboo image is called "Christmas Cheer" and I'd say she's had a bit more than necessary.  I colored her with a combination of Copics, Promarkers and glitter gel ink.  The die cut is done with a Cheery Lynn frame/border die.  The die cut itself was so fancy that I left the card without any additional embellishments.  I figured the sparkle and fancy borders were enough.

     Challenges:
Cheery Lynn Dies -- Beautiful borders
Delightful Challenges -- Glitter, bling and sparkle
Eureka Stamps -- Christmas in July
Graph'It Colour -- Candy colors (peppermint and wintergreen)
Loves Rubber Stamps -- Christmas in July
My Craft Spot -- Christmas in July
Oozak -- Texture
Outlawz GCC -- Christmas in July
Stamp and Create -- Christmas in July

     I hope you're having a wonderful Wednesday and remember, that means we're half-way to the weekend.  Not that I like wishing my life away but I do love the free time I get on the weekends for fun and play.  However, most of it will be spent indoors this weekend if what the weatherman is predicting comes true -- high temps in the 100s once again.  Oh, yuck!  I so do NOT like hot weather, at least, not that hot.  Enjoy the rest of your week and Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Summer, Flowers, and Bears, Oh, My!

     This delightful little "Tall Flower Bear" is a freebie I found last Friday at Bugaboo Stamps (Catch the Bug --Anything Goes.)  Isn't he just the most precious thing holding his big summer flower?  One look at him, and I decided it was time for another card done in my favorite color of purple.

My sketch is from Incy Wincy

and, as if I needed more inspiration to use purple, 

I took my colors from {Pin}spirational.

 

     The image is colored with a combination of markers, mostly ProMarkers.  The it's die cut and matted (dies from QuicKutz) and mounted on a black card base.  The inside has white paper for a hand written notation.

     The dp is from Recollections and is also used as the mat for the image.  I used sheer ribbon and purple ribbon with a sheen from my stash (could be Really Reasonable Ribbon) to make the dove tail strip, then I found a last scrap of purple gingham ribbon to tie that bow.  I added a pearl to the flower center and then added three more to the lower corner. Despite the patterned paper, the design is still pretty CAS with lots of open space.

     Challenges:
C is for Challenge -- Flowers
Card Makin' Mamas -- Monochromatic
Colour Me Creative -- Anything goes
Cutie Pie -- Cute and Cuddly
Fairy Tale -- Favorite colors
Friends of Speedy TV -- Monochromatic
Graph'It Markers -- Bright and bold
Love to Create -- Ribbon & bling
No Matter Which Challenge -- Anything goes
Outlawz PAM -- Summer
Send a Smile 4 Kids -- Diecuts
Tammy's Scrappin' Corner -- Animals
The Ribbon Girl -- Add a bow
There She Goes -- Animals

     I hope you're having a wonderful Wednesday!  We're halfway to the weekend and that's fun time.  :-D  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Summer Blackberries, Yummmmm

     Doodle Pantry has a secondary release this month of some older sets, now available in a colorized version, and a set of fabulous digital papers, called Country Flavors!  Oh, I'm in love with nearly every one of the papers, and since blackberries are probably my favorite summer fruit, I had to do a card using blackberries for my image and two of the new papers.   This just brings back great memories of heading out into the wild with buckets in hand and then picking wild blackberries until we had pounds and pounds of them for eating, freezing, baking pies, and finally making jams and preserves.  Mmmmm, definitely the best of summer!

     Here's my card using the "Blackberries" set.  That set has its own papers, but I chose to use papers from the new Country Flavors set.

I chose my sketch from Sketch Saturday, turned sideways,

and my colors from the challenge at Inkspirational.

  

     The image is printed twice in different sizes, then fussy cut and layered together.  The same thing could be done merging .png images together but I'm still working on how to do merging so fussy cutting is my best option at this point.  The images are layered onto a die cut which is mounted onto another larger die cut, made with one of the Country Flavors digi dp.  That one is backed with white paper.

     I used a second County Flavors dp for the vertical strip and added sheer purple ribbon with a great sparkle in it, then tied a bow.  The sentiment is also from the Blackberries set and it's just printed and cut free hand, with scissors.  It may be hard to see but I hand embossed two lines down the left side of the card, and then used the "Lattice" embossing folder on the right side of the card front.  Obviously, those embossings were done before I started layering everything onto the card.

     Challenges:
A Gem of a Challenge -- Lots of layers
Allsorts -- Favourite things (blackberries)
4 Crafty Chicks -- Dry emboss
Clearly I Stamp -- Summertime
Jellypark Friends -- Celebrate summer
One Stop Craft -- Anything goes
Rhedd & Rosie's -- Here comes summer
Scrapper's Delights -- Die cuts  
   
     Check below for a photo of the new Blackberries colorized set, and be sure to check out the Doodle Pantry store to see all of the new releases.  Don't forget our challenge.  If you enter by July 24 (must use a DP image), you'll get a free set and you can get another free set with any purchase made by July 24.  There's also a new freebie set called "Viola Ants" on the Freebies page at the store.  How can you lose?

     Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie