I Love a Challenge!!

What a fun time I had at the Gina K. release party on Monday. If you can keep up, which is terribly hard to do on dial-up(I know wahhh-wahhh), it is a ton of fun, and the conversation is always interesting. The design team had some fabulous samples, and the new sets are awesome!! During the party there were 4 challenges issued. The first was a sketch challenge, the second was a scrapbook sketch challenge, the third was a color challenge, and the last one was to make a scene. I am not really a scrapbooker, so I only participated in three of the challenges. You can check out the challenges in the Gina K. member forum over on SCS. You have until tomorrow night to upload your cards, so there is still time to enter!!! I may get brave before then and make a scrapbook page, but it doesn't seem likely!! Anyway, onto my cards!! The first on was made using the Gina K. stamps for a cause stamp set How Sweet It Is. My cousin Mandy just had a baby boy, so I am going to send it to her. I stamped the stork in black Stazon on Whisper White. I colored it in using my SU markers and my aquapainter. I then outlined it in Prismacolor cool grey marker. It was matted with Ballet Blue and Bashful Blue. I ran the white piece through my cuttlebug with my new Perfectly Paisley folder. The bottom sentiment was also stamped with black Stazon and layered the same. The brads are from SU Soft Subtles and Rich Regals brads. I used a strip of paper from the SU Prints Pack and created the layered scallops with my corner rounder. I thought it needed a little, so I added the silver clips with ribbon on them. All of the ribbon is SU except for the dark blue gingham, which is by American Crafts.

The second card was for the third challenge which was a color challenge. I will go ahead and say that I don't like this color combo, BUT I do LOVE my card!!! I stamped the kangaroo from the Gina K. set Just So Hoppy. I colored it with my SU markers and blended it with my aquapainter. I outlined it too, because I really think that it makes it pop!! The balloons were stamped separately, colored with markers, and then had crystal effects put all over them. I don't know why, but the photo looks a little wonky, but it looks really good in person (IMHO). I hand drew in the lines for the balloons. The sentiment is from the retired SU set Riveting. It was stamped once in Taken With Teal and once with Pumpkin Pie. I layered them all together along with the other challenge color Soft Sky, punched holes in the scallops, and added a couple of silver brads The top panel is the challenge colors plus a piece of DP from Bali Breeze(SU). I put three white brads in the top and it was done!! This card measures 5 1/4square by the way!!

My final card is for the fourth challenge, which was to make a scene. Well, we all know I LOVE to do that. I stamped the image with black Stazon on watercolor paper. I used the bunny and tulip from Just So Hoppy, the grass stamp is from the Whipper Snapper set Spring has Sprung. I colored it in with SU markers and blended it with my aquapainter. The colors on this are Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue and Lavender Lace. I think it is pretty easy to figure out, and this post is terribly long, so I am going to leave it at that!! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me!! Thanks for visiting, and have a great day!!!

Sketch Challenge

Okay, so if you came to visit me in the last, we'll say 30 minutes, I am an airhead!! I push enter instead of tab all the time, and post before I have done anything!! I guess I could call it my own little way of building suspense!!LOL Speaking of suspense, go check out Melanie Muenchinger's blog(she's listed over there in the blogs I stalk), she posted her Hoppy Mentions today, and guess who was mentioned, ME along with some other SUPER talented ladies, including my favorite blogging buddies(you know who you are, ALL of you)!!! I am so excited!! I love what I do, and I hope others do to, but it always helps to get a little affirmation, if you know what I mean. Anytime I am having trouble with a card, or life in general, I go to my gallery(or my blog) and read all the wonderful comments people leave me. They really help me through the rough spots and the blah days!! My card tonight is for today's sketch challenge over on SCS. I LOVED this sketch, and will probably use it often. It is so simple, but you really can do some cute stuff with it. I wanted to go all out, and really bling it up, but I got to the point where it is at, and thought, you know what, this is cute, leave it alone!! Sometimes I can spend an hour embellishing something that took me 5 minutes to put together, am I alone in this??? I stamped the chick from Just So Hoppy with Black Stazon on Whisper White, colored it with markers, went over it with an aquapainter, and then cut it out with my circle nesties. I drew the white dots on with my white gel pen, because I was in a dotty mood!! The rest is pretty easy to figure out, but as always, if you have ANY questions, just ask!!! I am always around to answer any questions anyone has!! Thanks for looking and have a great day!!

stamps-Just So Hoppy
paper-Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana, Certainly Celery CS and DSP, and Prints Pack
tools-SU markers, aquapainter, cirlce nesties, cuttlebug, swiss dots folder, white taffeta, blue and celery grosgrain, white gel pen, prismacolor marker cool grey