New Stamp

I got this ADORABLE stamp at the convention last week. Yes, it's an actual rubber stamp, not a digi. Yes, you still are on Lori's blog...sometimes I actually DON'T use digi images...weird, I know :)

I used the sketch from Die Cuts R Us.

I Hope This is Right

Okay, I'm pretty new to cardmaking. I don't know all the lingo and techniques and certainly am not up all all the latest products but I'm learning and I think I learned something new today...thus the post title...I hope I did this right.
This week, the Treehouse Stamp challenge is Decoupage. I have no idea what this is so I asked my trusty friends over at cardmaker and got some answers that didn't seem to match with the Treehouse DT samples. So I did some more searching and careful examination of the DT's work and came up with what I thought Decoupaging is. I printed my image several times and took certain aspects of it to pop dot and make them 3d. I hope this is right. I 3d'd the flower, the tail and the mouse's right ear. I made two layers on top of the image for each of those parts. I think it looks pretty cool though you probably can't tell from the straight on picture. So I took a couple of other ones to show the dimension.

Side view of all:

Close up/side view of the flower:

This adorable image is available from Meljens if you join her group on Papercraft Planet. You can do that here.
Challenges:
Treehouse: decoupage
Meljens Challenge: 3 d
Cardmaker: Sketch
Color Throwdown: tangerine and grey with either yellow or white

SECOND TRY ON SNB BLOG HOP WINNER

Since Naomi didn't contact me to claim her prize, I've used Random.org AGAIN to choose another winner:
True Random Number Generator
Min: 1
Max: 44
Result: 14
Powered by RANDOM.ORG
That's you CRAFTYMOM205! Please contact me by Monday, April 20th at 8am Central Time to claim your prize. Email me at lpadberg@sbcglobal.net

Meljen's Thank You Bear

How cute is this image from Meljens? And how awesome is the Just Cute Bears challenge? I mean, really...how can you go wrong with a challenge focused on adorable bears? This week the challenge at JCB is flowers so I immediately thought of this image and the cute bear with the armful of flowers. I used the sketch from Our Creative Corner and the colors from the Copic Colour Challenge. The challenge colors were B93, E47 and Y23 (I used B93, E43 and Y21 and Y26 since they were the closest I had to the challenge colors). I also used R81 for the hearts.

Christmas in April

Well...sort of. I'm playing along with the ABC Christmas challenge which is H for Holly and the Bah Humbug challenge which is to feature an animal on your Christmas card. This image from Cuddly Buddly has the perfect little touch of holly on the bear's hat so it fits perfectly. I think this is about the fourth time I've played along with the ABC Christmas challenge and between this and Bah Humbug I'm getting a good start on my Christmas cards!

Challenges:
Mojo Monday: Sketch
Crafty Creations Challenge: Limted Supplies: 1 DP, 1 embellie, 1 image ONLY
ABC Christmas: holly
Bah Humbug: Furry Friends
Little Red Wagon: dry embossing
ABC Challenge: S for sparkle (stickled the fur on the hat, the holly berries and his nose)
Cute Card Thursday: textures
Stamp Something: layers (lots of paper layers and I layered my primas)

WOW...What a Challenge

I made this card with what was quite possibly the most challenging challenge I've played along with in awhile. It didn't require a certain technique that I couldn't master, it was simply a "countdown" challenge posted by Lora at Cardmaker Cardswap. We had to use the following things in the EXACT amounts:
4 different designer papers
3 punches, die cuts or stickers
2 buttons
1 ribbon
1 sentiment
The most challenging part was finding and using the 4 different DPs and of course limiting myself to ONLY two buttons...sheesh!

I used the "nasty rag" technique I learned in my Copics class to mimic fur on the bear. I need to practice more but I think it's a good technique. Basically, you color your bear and then take a terrycloth rag and color a small section of the rag. Quickly (before the marker dries!) press the colored section of the rag on to the area you want to look furry. Keep repeating that until your bear looks furry enough. Pretty cool, huh? By the way, this adorable bear is available FREE from Wendy HERE. I stamped the sentiment with Memento "Angel Pink" ink and in case you can't read it, it says "You Make Me Smile" which this bear definitely does!
Challenges:
Cardmaker Cardswap: Countdown challenge
Sketch Saturday: Sketch
Creative Belli Blog: use a die cut

Happy Birthday to Ewe!

**Scroll down to the next post to see the winner of the Cupcake image from SNB**
Flipping through my stash of cards the other day made me realize that I need more birthday cards. More specifically, I need more masculine birthday cards. That's what I started out making with this image from There's Magic in the Air because their challenge this week was to use the image and the colors blue, green and white. Seems like you could make a masculine thing out of those colors...right? Well yeah, except that I had to add some bows and well, that pretty much killed the masculine aspect of the card (if there was any there to begin with!). Oh well, I
still have another birthday card to add to my stash-you know you can never have too many.

Challenges:
CPS: Sketch
There's Magic in the Air: Image and use green, blue and white
Tuesday Taggers: Birthday card
Papertake Weekly:Cutie Pie...use something cute
Our Creative Corner: bows

SNB Blog Hop Winner

Thank you all for participating in the first ever SNB Blog Hop! I've used Random.org to choose who wins the adorable cupcake image that I used on my card from StretchNBubbles and the result is:
True Random Number Generator
Min: 1
Max: 44
Result:
21
Powered by RANDOM.ORG
That's you Naomi! Please email me at lpadberg@sbcglobal.net so I can get your image out to you. If I don't hear from Naomi by Friday, April 16th at 8am Central Time, I'll pick another name.
Again, thanks for playing along in our blog hop. Be sure to check back tomorrow for the SNB Sketch Challenge #2!

Caught a Bug?

I made this card with another adorable image from Bugaboo Stamps. The pink dotted paper is from a Martha Stewart pack I have. The sentiment is from a new stamp set I got at the convention this past weekend. The brown paper is Cordinations. I sanded all of the paper and used some distress ink around the edges. I colored the image with Copics. I also colored those little beads in the corner with my E29 Copic Marker to match the brown dots on the ribbon.

Challenges:
Secret Crafter: Get well card
One Stitch at a Time: Torn, distressed or shabby
Cupcake Craft Challenge: childhood memories (no, not of being sick but of catching lightning bugs and putting them in jars!)
Daisy Doodles: Use pink and one other color
Bugaboo: Use a bug and the sketch from Scrappy

A Scalloped Waterfall Card

**FOR THE SNB BLOG HOP-GO HERE (ENTER BY 5PM MOUNTAIN TIME TUESDAY)**
I know I posted earlier today that I wasn't sure if I was going to get any crafting time today since I had to get my stuff organized from the Convention and my daughter wanted to change her room around today. Well...unfortunately, my daughter came home from school not feeling well so she didn't want to do anything but sleep. In the course of putting away my convention things, I came across a book I got and on the front cover was this awesome scalloped oval waterfall card. I HAD to try it so I moved my other piles of STUFF from the weekend off of my craft table and got to work figuring out how to do this card. It's actually very easy. You can see in my picture that I used DCWV paper since you can see their markings on the back. I have to go back and change that when I'm ready to give this to someone cuz it looks pretty bad this way! BUT overall, I really like this style of card.
Here is the card closed:

And here are the different views of the ovals:



Challenges:
One Stop Craft Challenge: Make a card with movement
Crazy 4 Challenges:1 ribbon, 2 buttons, 3 punches
Corrosive Challenge: textures
Pile it on: No images, just words
Crafty Cardmakers: Challenge yourself with something new to you
Pollycraft: use brown and pink and either green OR yellow
By the way, that awesome flower on the main scallop is from a big tube of Primas I got at the convention! Love it!