Based on a business holiday card

This is a card I made based on a card in a holiday card catalog for businesses. The cards are of course impersonal but some of the sketches were inspiring. I'll definitely use this card so you KNOW I'm happy with how it looks. I'll definitely use this sketch again.

If you would like to see some other holiday cards created by members of the Paper Hoarders group you can see them on Tanya's blog.

Squigglefly: Winter Wonderland Challenge- dedicated to Rebecca

This week's Squigglefly challenge is: SFC 126Winter Wonderland. Be sure to check out the samples from the design team! I thought I used a SF image* because it was printed on a piece of cardstock surrounded by SF images. Guess I was wrong because I can't find it in my files or on the Squigglefly site. But you may play in Squigglefly challenges without a Squigglefly image, you just aren't eligible for a prize. Since I'm on the team, I'm not eligible for a prize anyway so I guess no catastrophic loss.

**Update- I was correct, the image was sold at Squigglefly but is now discontinued

This card is dedicated to my fellow Squigglefly design team member, Rebecca. Rebecca was a fun and steadfast friend and teammate until I recently posted on FaceBook about seeing the first snow of the season at my house. True Blue Rebecca let me know that she had just been to the grocery store in flip flops. If ever there was cause to throw a snowball...

Smeared Ink Challenge- Mourning Glory

This week's new Smeared Ink Challenge on the Smudgy Antics blog is: Mourning Glory. The challenge was to "make a project using graves, churchyards, etc." I interpreted this to be a project of mourning or bereavement so I opted for a very monochromatic and simple card with butterflies. I started out with a darker mood but it just wasn't working for me so I moved in a different direction.

The prize this week is a tombstone image which I featured in the project below (click on the photo to see the post).
Starting on 12/1 and continuing on alternating days until 12/23 will be the Smeared Ink 12 Days of Christmas. On Saturday 12/3 the design team will have a blog hop of the new release images. My teammate Black Dragon (awesome nickname!) chose images for us to use and I absolutely love what she picked for me! For those of you who enjoy Randy the Reindeer's visits, he'll be hosting my 12 Days of Christmas posts!

Thanks for stopping by!

Smudgy Antics Weekly Challenge

This week's Smeared Ink Challenge is called "Poe Me". Check out the design team samples and details HERE

Squigglefly- Etch My Sketch Challenge

I might be a wee bit biased about this week's Squigglefly challenge- SFC125 because I designed the sketch myself! You can flip or rotate the sketch if you like.

I used "Upside Down Snowman" by artist and Bond Girl Marlene Shaw. I added some very pale colored pencil to add some shadows to the snow. (Those of you who are noodling "Bond Girl" it is a kudos her recent personal achievement and Bond Girls are some of the most beautiful and cunning!)

Smeared Ink Challenge- Dear Heart

Happy Monday! Today is my team's turn to create samples for the Smeared Ink Challenge for this week: Dear Heart- Use or make a heart. In order to encourage more participants, you are no longer required to use a Smeared Ink image on your project to play in the challenge. However, if you want to win a prize, you do need a Smeared Ink image on your project. Several of my DTmates are digital artists so there is some great eye candy if you are like me and like digital but are still slowly learning.



For my 8x8x2 box I am featuring Bot Bots- Tubby! I love his spikes because you can embellish him in a variety of ways. I colored Tubby with colored pencil and blended with odorless mineral spirits (neat way to use pencils but I am still practicing). The bolts and hinges were colored with a silver gel pen.

The background was created by stamping a splatter image from the Inky Dreams sheet, blitzing various shades or pink/ peach/ orange ink and some diecut hearts. The hearts were embossed with a crocodile texture embossing folder (I looked for one of these for YEARS- you should have seen me when I actually found it at Hobby Lobby). I love crocodile texture! I applied die ink with a Ranger applicator and some gloss medium to the red piece/ matt medium to the orange piece and let it dry before cutting with my Slice. I tossed in a few hearts cut from glitter cardstock as well.

I have been awake since 4:45. Off to another busy week! Have a great day and GET OFF THE COMPUTER AND GO MAKE STUFF!

Randy here- What a tough day I had yesterday (Sunday). I'm waiting for a delivery and I literally sat on the mailbox all day waiting for the postman. I did have to visit the woods a few times but no mail/ packages at all. What is wrong with that postman?

Thanks for stopping by!

November S&S Member Blog Hop

Welcome to the hop! If you didn't come here from Helen's blog go to Terra's blog to start at the beginning. Abbie Kay is the next stop on the hop. Thanks for hopping by today.


This is the November blog hop for the Smeared and Smudged member group. The theme this month is A Little Steamy. Use images, pieces, or parts that embrace the steampunk genre. Everyone also has to use at least one stamped (or digi stamp) image.

I chose 2 discontinued images from Smeared Ink for my altered clipboard. I've never made an altered clipboard (and now I know the reason why!)

Thanks for hopping by today, Abbie Kay is the next stop on the hop. The entire blog roll appears at the bottom of the post.

Randy here- I was working on homework this afternoon and while I was intently working, someone played a practical joke on me. They are dark chocolate chips- honest!

Terra

Tori

Jane

Kristy

Sugar

Sara

Laura

Celina

Joyce

Steph

Helen

Heather

Abbie Kay

Black Dragon

Dianne

Monique

Sharon

Fiona

Ike

Lady Brayton

Susan

Squigglefly Challenge #123- No Patterned Paper

Today is a new Squigglefly Challenge (SFC123) and I used "Stuck Santa" by artist Diane Carubia. I am a little biased but I was really impressed with how my team (Heather's Headliners) used different techniques to create their backgrounds.

Originally, I had planned to color block, but at the last minute I scrapped that design and sprayed my card with homemade shimmer spray. Then I sponged gray ink over a stencil for the corners. The image is colored with Copics and the sentiment cut with my Slice. Very simple but a nice casual holiday card.

Randy sends his regards and he will be co-blogging with me later this week.

Squigglefly- Sneak Peak

Here is another sneak peak of a new Squigglefly image called, "Autumn Wind" by artist Gemma Mortlock. The sketch is from a new to me sketch challenge blog called Fetch A Sketch (isn't that the coolest name ever?) This week's sketch is Challenge 10. As soon as I saw the sketch I knew I had to use it!

Right after I posted this card I decided to visit the blogs of a few friends and the first one I hit was Holly's. Guess which image she used? Great minds and all that!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Squigglefly Sneak Peeks (+ Randy)

Lots going on at Squigglefly this week. First of all, there is a new release scheduled for this Saturday, 11/5. Two new artists will be sharing their talents- Gemma Mortlock and Rachel Goble. I looked at their Etsy shops and all I can say is WOW!

This week's Squigglefly Challenge is SFC122: Tickle My Fancy. The Marvels did a fantastic job creating lighthearted/ humorous cards.

My card features a sneak peek of a new image called "Happy Tweetmas" by artist Diane Carubia (to be released Saturday). I used SC1102 from a weekly sketch challenge on The Outlawz.

I'm very proud that I completed a grueling 31 day Halloween challenge earlier this week. Posting to my blog and creating art for 31 days straight was a challenge. Since I've gone back to work, I haven't had as much time for daily blog posts. It was a good push to be creative even when I didn't want to be and the feedback was really interesting and inspiring. The one thing that surprised me the most. Although I have never been a fan of Halloween, I thought the challengewould convert me into a Halloween fan- NOPE! I respect it but you won't see any orange or my candy corn stamp for a while!

One of the things I did for the challenge was "invite" Randy the Reindeer to guest post on my blog. He was doing some court mandated community service for me and has since turned his life around. He will be attending community college and living at my house so you will see him from time to time at the bottom of my blog posts.

Randy here- What a beautiful fall day today- sunny and temps in the 60's. I decided to enjoy the sunshine and take a walk outside and have a little snack. Heather is not the world's best cook and a reindeer has to eat! There are 5 bags of Halloween candy in the house but sometimes it is good to eat some roughage!

Thanks for stopping by!