Just Us Girls-Photo challenge!

Hello!  It's challenge number 264 at Just Us Girls this week and Maria has a great photo for inspiration!!  It screams fall, and for me, fall means PUMPKINS!! I'm just crazy about orange and the other fall colors so I pulled out this Penny Black stamp (called pumkins) and colored to my heart's content!

My card base is the In Color orange from SU (um, forgot what it's called.  It's stamped with the flannel background stamp (Retired SU) that was still out from my last post.  I stamped it in Canyon clay from PTI, but maybe should have used a more 'rusty' color.

Anyway, I made a hinge style card by scoring JUST THE CARD FRONT at 1.25 inches and taping that section closed.  The remaining panel is a 4.25 in square which was perfect for my colored and mounted image.  The image is stamped on express it blending card and die cut with pierced squares from My Favorite Things.  The ribbon is dk brown dotted from Papertrey Ink.

I used mainly YR12, 15 and 18 for my pumpkins and some blender pen.

Won't you please visit Just Us Girls to see Maria's chosen photo (and tons of DT inspiration!) and then maybe create something to share with us!  Winners for Chic of the Week have a chance to be our guest designer in December!  You have until Thursday, Oct. 30 to enter YOUR design! 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Cheryl

Christmas Card Challenge!

Hello!  It's been awhile since I've had two posts in a week!  Things just get away from me and before I know it the evenings are gone!  Well, The Christmas Card Challenge had such a great inspiration photo this week that I couldn't resist!  It's a Snow Globe! My buddy Lisa is on the design team!

 My Large snow globe is one of the new My Favorite Things die sets.  I want to build scenes in it, but this time I started with a large snowman from Darcie's Heart and Home.  I colored it pretty much like it was on the package (with copics), so that's what drove my colors.  I used a piece of Papertrey's Autumn rose card stock for the base. It is stamped in Scarlet Jewel using the OLD flannel background from SU!  I still love it! I added plenty of sparkle with prisma glitter.  My sentiment is from a PTI set.  I love that you can curve acrylic stamps to fit your needs! I used a die cut of the base to stamp on and then cut it closer to the sentiment.

Close up of this adorable snowman!
Thanks for visiting .  Now come on back tomorrow and see what the Just Us Girls team has in store for you this week.  It's something to go with the current season rather than the next one!
Cheryl

JUGS 263 COLOR CHALLENGE!!

Oh, my is the challenge Lisa has for this week ever a great one!! YES, it is! When she told me, I had a tiny bit of a doubt about these colors being dark, but they are GREAT together! And when I got this stamp from WhipperSnapperdesigns.com I knew just how I would color it!

 This is Parsnip (in case you'r'e looking for it at Whipper Snapper designs). She is stamped on watercolor paper and painted with reinkers.  I used Sahara Sand for the cat and elegant eggplant, old olive and night of navy for the scarf and hat.  Adorable!!

 Then I went looking for background paper, but it wasn't long until I remember this Tim Holtz stencil, called Holiday Knit. I have the stencil because of Lisa, too~she said she had it so I needed it too!  If I wasn't a tad late with my post I think I would have used texture paste for a raised sweater design, but short on time I used my stencil brushes to brush on my colors (rich razzleberry, old olive and night of navy).  I shaded the edges with a bit of pool party and I think it made it look very sweatery (?) and fuzzy!

I have thin gold twine, but I wanted SILVER!  All I have in silver is this chunkier string so I had to go with it.  Why in the world don't I have silver twine!  I'll fix that soon! I mounted the image and sweater on Rich Razzleberry and my card was done!
I hope you like it!
Now, please get to creating something to show us your take on these colors!  Check out the JUGS BLOG for much inspiration and directions!  You could be our guest designer for December if chosen Chic of the Week!
thanks for visiting and have a great weekend!
Cheryl

Just Us Girls 262 TREND!

Hi there!  It's TREND week at Just Us Girls and Sue T has a trend we are all loving right now! It's OMBRE!!  I looked on Pinterest and found so many great examples and ideas.  Please check out our BLOG for some great inspiration from the team!

 For my card I made a black card base and layered this die cut from Papertrey Ink on it.  The zig zag stripes cut out so cleanly! I layered that on my black card base and proceded to cut the same die from barely banana, harvest gold (PTI), peach parfait, canyon clay (PTIm and finally cajun craze. IMO a full range of beautiful, fall colors!

 

 This stamp is Gilley, from the new fall images over at Whipper Snapper Designs.  Here's a LINK to the image.  I stamped him in Stazon on watercolor paper and the colored him up with a paintbrush and  SU reinkers.

Gilley in a close up! Now that you've had  a look here, head on over to the blog for more eye candy. and then we hope you'll join in Sue's challenge along with us!  You have until Thursday, Oct. 16 at 9 pm ET.
Have a great weekend!! Cheryl

The Creative Blog Hop!!

A couple of weeks ago I opened my email one evening and there was an email from my friend, Diane (Cookiestamper).  She was asking to 'tap' me for the Creative Blog Hop!  It's so nice of her to think of me!
Here's Diane!



I don't think I have anything very original to say and I expect my answers will be short, but here goes!

What am I working on right now?
Right now I'm working to make order out of my 'studio'.  Oh, that's not what this means?  Ok, right now I am working on cards for the challenges for the Just Us Girls upcoming themes.  I am also trying to use some new things I've just purchased (you'll see that below), and I'm working on cards for my family with information on our Family Camping Weekend next summer!  Sort of  'Save the Date' cards, if you will!

How does my work differ from others in its genre?
I don't think my work really differs from many others.  I love to color-with copics, with reinkers, pencils, whatever!  I also love to create now with all the dies that are on the market! Whatever did we do before we had all these DIES!!?  I also love CAS styles.
I'm just a big copycat really!


Why do I create what I do?
Most people seem to have talked about their past craft lives here, and I'm no exception!  My mom was always creating something and she fed the need to create in me from an early age.  We got 'Pack 'o Fun magazine in the mail, we lived near a wood shop (building!), we were farmers (pumpkins to carve!).  I've had bags and boxes of macrame cord, brushes and paints, sketchbooks, yarns, candlemaking and any other craft supplies you can think of!
I also 'worked' the craft show circuit for awhile!  Again, with my family for support! My dad cut my wood, my mom sanded and sealed and my little sister worked the shows with me.  In general, it was called 'tole painting'. I painted Halloween items, Santas, snowmen and all things 'Country' for home decoration.

How does your creative process work?
As I mentioned, I'm a big copycat!  I'm inspired by Debbie Olsen, Nichole Heady, Kittie Caracciolo Lisa Kind, Diane herself and so, so many others!  The Featured Stamper on Splitcoast is a favorite challenge of mine!  I love Diana Crick and all the lovely Magnolia image she carries in her store! I'm proud to call her my friend!

Lisa Kind (Kind Creations) is a good friend of mine and she's the one I want to nominate for The Creative Blog Hop!
I hope she has the time in the near future to tell us all about her creative process!

Here's a card I made on Sunday:

Dave and I have a niece who is a fourth grade teacher.  this card has been on my mind for awhile now-to wish her an awesome school year!  Better late than never, right?
Images are from My Favorite Things from the set Class Act.  I saw this Graphic 45 paper at our LSS and it reminded me of a schoolgirl's skirt! The images are cut from watercolor paper, stamped with Stazon and colored with SU reinkers (and I learned from Debbie O that you can use copics where the color needs to be deepened!).  I might have done something else with the pencils, but they are covering a 'boo boo' I made with the black ink!!  That's part of the creative process too!!

If you've read all this I sure appreciate it!! Have a great day and week!
Cheryl

Just Us Girls-WORD WEEK- Celebrate!

Hello!  Just Us Girls has a fun WORD challenge for you this week-It's CELEBRATE!!  Show us ANYTHING you celebrate with a card you've made!!  There is tons of fun inspiration (and details, too) on the JUGS BLOG!  Take a look!

We are also welcoming TWO new design team members-Ina and Chris!! They do some great work!

 My card is actually a CASE of a card I've seen at our local craft store (Local being a 70 minute drive from home, but worth the trip!!)   I used a retired stamp (but I found it online!). Gotta love the internet!  I wanted to try this 'new to me' technique that the store artist had used~ coloring on craft card stock with prima pencils.  The image is stamped in black ink on kraft card stock from Papertrey Ink.  I didn't use any Gamsol, but instead went back in and blended the edges of the brown with the white colored pencil.  I love the effect.  The word 'happy' is from My Favorite things and is die cut 5 times from burgundy card stock and glued together before adhering to the card.  Dotted paper is Antique Rose from PTI and the scallop punch is from Martha Stewart.  Those vertical panels with stitching are also from MFT.

I went over his nose with gel pen and then added shine with a white pen. Also used a black sharpie to go over some of the edges and fussy cut the puppy out.
The puppy reminds me of LISA's dog-Lizzie!!

Please remember that you have until Thursday, October 9 to show us your card/project that expresses the word CELEBRATE!!
Thanks for visiting!  Cheryl