I'm A Color Me Copic Challenge Winner!

I am so excited that my card won a challenge!  Color Me Copic had a fabulous set of Elisabeth Bell stamps as the prize from the wonderful Susana's Custom Art and Card Design and I won them!
If you are looking for amazing stamps and supplies (think Viva Decor!) you have to check out Susana's store. She is a pleasure to shop with, you won't be disappointed.
No cards or projects today, just some cool news that I wanted to share with everyone!
Happy Crafting!
Colleen

Tickled Pink's Birthday Bash!

Blog Candy From Tickled Pink

Just a quick note to remind everyone to stop by Tickled Pink for some awesome blog candy. I have to say, this is one of the nicest Shops on the web. The owner, Kellie, is fantastic to do business with, I love the collection of Stamps she sells. Her digis are fabulous and so unique.
Happy Blog-a-versary, Tickled Pink!
Happy Crafting!
Colleen

1 Card, 2 Challenges

Here are the two challenges Lil Lolita Challenge 19 (Skulls)
                                             Color Me Copic Challenge (clothing)
I have entered the card in.

I have been in challenge mode all week. I keep seeing these fabulous challenges around the blog world, and I entered a Color Me Copic  black and white challenge a couple of months back, and was just waiting for some free time to join another challenge. I love this image so much, I am entering my card into two challenges. First is the Lil Lolita Boutique Challenge. The challenge is to use Skulls on your project. I chose my Lil Haunts Ghost Willow from Tickled Pink Stamps for this challenge because she has a lovely skull necklace on, so she fit the challenge nicely!

 I used Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland and Spook Alley paper, Prima Flowers, and some Chenille Ribbon I got last year at Michael's Dollar Bin. I used the largest Label One Nestability with the Graphic 45 paper and die cut the green pumpkin background for Ghost Willow. The orange Spook Alley paper was embossed using a Tim Holtz Alterations large Checkerboard Texture Fade. I cut a green piece of DCWV cardstock and used my Martha Stewart Punch to create the border. I layered a few Prima flowers, then cut a skull from a piece of cardstock from Die Cut With A View Rockstar Paper with a small oval scalloped Nestability. I used that for the center of the flower. I added a few leaves from a Martha Stewart Punch and curled some wires for added interest. A matching Halloween sign die cut from Graphic 45 on the Chenille ribbon finished the card. I really wanted the image to be the focus of this card, so I tried to keep the embellies simple.

For the Color Me Copic Challenge I used the same colors on her dress as Elaine Hughes did for the clothing tutorial. YR0000, Y21, Y26, and Y28. These are not typical colors for me to use, but since I practiced Elaine's technique, I have been using them all over the place! They are on the cape of the Chrsitain Vamp from my previous post. These colors blend beautifully! For her skin, I went with E00, E01 and E93. RV06 is on her lips. Her hair is E07,  E08 and E09. Her eyeshadow color is N3. For some reason, I don't have her eye colors down. I think I may have used a couple of the YG colors. I really enjoyed this challenge. I have a new way to look at how I am coloring the clothing on my images.


If you haven't had a chance to visit either blog, you should. Color Me Copic has the best tutorials for Copics. I love visiting this blog for inspiration and education. Lil Lolita Boutique has the best catch phrase I have seen on a blog, it's Challenges For The Little "Quirky" That's In Us All. Don't you love that? Anyone who knows me, knows I have much "quirky" in me! Heck, I could be the Queen of Quirky!
The design teams at both blogs are amazing!

I don't usually start my posts with close ups, but I just love Ghost Willow so much, she gets a spotlight!
Here is the complete card.

My sweet hubby wasn't so sure about a flower with a skull center, he said there is no way to pretty up a skull. I don't know, what do you think of the flower?  Just for fun, here's a close up of it.

Thanks for coming by the blog today!

Happy Crafting!

Colleen

He's Coming For Your Candy........

Look Out!!!! The Candy Fiend wants your candy!

Seriously, he loves candy.....

This is my card for Simply Betty Challenges On The Sixth Day Of Halloween. The challenge is to incorporate Jack O' Lanterns into the design. I used K & Co. and Spook Alley Halloween paper from last year's stash. The die cut pumpkins and the candy corn are also K & Company. I stamped two ghosts from a Studio G set, colored them with Copics and added some glitter to them using Diamond Glaze. The moon is cut from American Crafts Glitter paper and inked with Tim Holtz Distress Ink, Spiced Marmalade. I love this image, he is Christian Vamp from Simply Betty Stamps for the Quirk In You
He is the digi stamp, but I have been thinking that I might really need the rubber versions of all the Simply Betty Emo Kids Halloween stamps. OK, I am laughing here......
I also colored him with Copics. The sentiment is from Kraftin' Kimmie's Halloween sentiments. It just suited him. Here is a close up of my favorite Vampire, sorry Edward Cullen fans!

I finally broke down and tried new cardstock. Christian Vamp is printed out from my computer on Cryogen White Iridescent paper from Paper Temptress

I think I have converted to the Paper Temptress ways! The paper was so smooth to color on and I loved the result. I found that I was blending my colors better on this paper.

To finish off my card, I added a black ribbon and for fun, I added the Halloween Treat basket for Christian to carry all the candy he steals from you on Halloween!!!!!

Thanks for looking at my card today!

Happy Crafting!

Colleen

A Think Pink Halloween Card

Best Witches!

I am entering WitchyPoo from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps in the challenge over at Karel's Blog. It's still October, so we need to keep reminding women that we need to take care of ourselves and get our mammograms. Karel's challenge is to make a Halloween card in Pink. I used Tim Holtz Vintage cardstock for the background. Isn't that paper just fabulous!? I also used a Tim Holtz Odds and Ends Halloween Ticket stamp for an embellie. I love how smooth these images stamp. I picked up the set from Inspiration Emporium. They carry pretty much everything Tim Holtz there and lots of other great items too! I used a Prima Flower and some balck velvet ribbon. I cut the heart from black cardstock with a Nestability and ran it through the cuttlebug with a the swirls embossing folder. Some Basic Grey pink bling and a pink velvet ribbon finished the card. Here's a look at the inside of the card.

I am pretty sure Karel will be putting the cards up for voting some time today, October 15th. Why not stop by her blog and cast your vote? There are some wonderful Pink Halloween projects in this contest! It's all fun for a great cause. Today started the 3 day walk in Philly, and I hope everyone takes a moment to think about all the woman we love.

I have several members of my family that have fought this battle.

My beloved Aunt, she was consumed by several cancers, including breast cancer. For her, it started as Kidney cancer and metastasized throughout her body. She was a brilliant, stubborn woman. Sadly, she was a woman that wouldn't go for regular check ups. She died for no good reason. It's painful to think that I could still have her in my life today, if she would have just gone for regular check ups. Please learn from her mistakes, I know I have. I lost her a year and a half ago, and I miss her so.



Then, there is my Grandma. She was a force of nature. She fought a good fight and survived well over 10 years. She was my husband's maternal Grandmother, but she was my Grandmother, too. We shared so much over the 25 years I was blessed to have her in my life. I am so proud to have been her Granddaughter and her friend. She never complained about her plight, she just did what she had to do. She was an inspiration to all of us in the family. She was never afraid, and I still don't know how that was possible, she was truly amazing in the face of breast cancer, and later, bone cancer. She was loving, funny and sometimes even exacerbating, but I still think of her and miss her everyday.

There are other woman in my life who have battled Breast Cancer.
 Mary C, whom I admire for her strength and tenacity in the face of Breast Cancer. She continues to be a survivor and enjoying her life.

Visit Susan G. Komen for education and information.

Thanks for dropping by today!
Happy Crafting!
Colleen

We Have A Winner!

Happy Tuesday Everyone!
It was a busy Saturday in my house. Of course I had to hop along on our Haunted Halloween Hop and I also made sure to visit the Breast Cancer Awareness Hop sponsored by Karel. There were amazing crafts and cards that were Thinking Pink. Karel is also having a fabulous challenge to combine Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness and Halloween. I will be posting my submission later. Stop by her blog and check it out.
I used Random.Org and the number generated for my blog candy is......NUMBER 60!!!!  Congratulations to Melanie Holzwarth who said:

What a wonderful project! Thanks so much for sharing the instructions.

Melanie
Scrappily Ever After Blog

Thanks for leaving your comment, Melanie!
Thank you to everyone who left me such wonderful comments. I read and enjoyed every single one of them. I also want to say thanks again to our host from the Cricut Circle! Janice did an amazing job for her first blog hop! (applause for Janice!) Also, thanks to my fellow bloggers for their fabulous projects! I am thrilled with all the ideas for my future projects!
Happy Crafting!
Colleen



Haunted Halloween Blog Hop!!!!!

Hi Everyone! Welcome to our first Haunted Halloween Blog Hop!  If you arrived here from CraftySentiments then you are on your way!!!! If not, why not head back to The Scrapbook Girl's blog and see what you may have missed! I am really excited today because this is the first time I have ever participated in a blog hop! I would like to thank Janice and AmyS over at the Cricut Message Boards for inviting me to join in on the fun! So now that you have stopped by, what should we do first? Want Some Candy? After all, this is The Haunted Halloween Blog Hop, and what's Halloween without candy?

Of course, this is the best candy, so much fun and not one calorie! To enter, leave me comment and become a Follower, I will use the random number generator to pick the winner. Don't forget to check back here on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 to see if you are a winner! Now that we've had some yummy candy, here's my project for the blog hop:

Haunted Halloween Blog Hop Luminary

The project I chose to create is a Luminary. It's a fun and easy project, that looks amazing when lit. Here are the materials I used:



Cricut Pumpkin Carvings Cartridge

Chipboard (optional)

Paper (I used Spook Alley by Making Memories)

Vellum

Ribbon

Hole Punch (I used my Cinch)

Paper Crimper

Martha Stewart Drippy Goo Punch

Martha Stewart Glow In The Dark Glitter

Xryon Machine
Scor Board

Flameless Candle

My Gypsy

I originally saw the idea for this in an email from SplitCoast Stampers, but when I tried to access the site, I had all kinds of problems. It ended up being a good thing, because it left me to my own devices! There is a very good tutorial for Non-Cricut Luminaries at Stamp and Design with Lynn Pratt. Like so many others, my craft time is sorely limited, so I broke out the Gypsy, and put the Pumpkin Carvings Cartridge to good use. The luminary ended up being a little bigger than I had planned, (smiling here...) but I am pleased with the finished project.

These pictures show the basic cut files from the gypsy. All I did was take a square from Accent Essentials, then added the image from Pumpkin Carvings into the center of the square, I didn't weld the images. In order to have the circle cut for the window of the luminary, I hid the contours of the cat and witch, that's the middle picture. I cut the image with chipboard and paper. When I cut the chipboard, I used the Deep Cut blade, and cut 3 times because it is heavy chipboard. I then cut 4 more images with my patterned paper.

 


I used black cardstock and cut the cat and witch along with the square, so that I would have a base color for the inside of the Luminary. Below is a picture of the cuts, removed from the square.

Once I had these cut, I decided that I wanted to use my Martha Stewart Glow In The Dark glitter, so I ran the cuts through my Xryon and glittered away!

Above, I ran the cuts through the Xyron again, after I glittered them. I cut 4 squares out of vellum, ran them through a paper crimper, and adhered it between the black paper and chipboard. The picture below shows the vellum adhered to the chipboard, before the paper was added.

I used Scor-Tape to adhere the papers to the vellum and the chipboard. I used the Cinch to punch holes in the chipboard. I took black ribbon and laced it through the holes. Below are pictures of the progress.

I had cut a square at 6.5 x 6.5 for the bottom and lid from chipboard, and covered the base with black cardstock. I wanted a patterned paper on the top and wanted to use my Drippy Goo Punch to add a little interest to the lid. Since I was using two different papers, I cut the Drippy Goo Punches to the 6.5 inches long and left some extra paper so that I could have it hang over the Luminary. If you are using the same color paper for a top and the trim, you can just as easily add an extra inch and a half and just punch around the paper. Here is how I did it. I used Scor Tape to adhere the Drippy Goo Punch, I adhered a black cardstock square to the chipboard and then I flipped the lid (ha-ha) and added the patterned cardstock. I used my Scor Board to scor the trim, then folded it down.

 

Once it was folded down, I realized I needed to anchor the sides of the trim together, so I took 4 small scraps, added tape to them and adhered them to the inside.

I didn't worry about the them being even, they held the corners fine. I added a couple of little flameless candles I picked up in Michael's for 1.99 each, and lit it up!

Here a couple more pictures of the finished project.

Thanks for stopping by today! Your next stop on the blog hop is the fabulous Sea Swan's blog. Don't forget to check back in with me on Tuesday! Enjoy the rest of the blog hop! I'm sure you find many wonderful, inspiring projects from the talented crafters here!
Happy Crafting!
Colleen

Today, one of my favorite musical influences would have turned 70 years old, Happy Birthday to you John Lennon, where ever you are. Who knows what you might have created these past 30 years had you not been stolen from us all!

John Lennon What You Got

Still Miss You....

John Lennon-Grow Old With Me

It's All About The ATCs!

It's been ATC madness in my craft room recently. I just finished three more sets of  ATCs for Jean's By The Number ATC swap on the Cricut Message Board. What made this challenge so much fun was that we picked numbers for the groups we were in, and our esteemed Hostess then gave us our assignments. I wasn't too sure of what I was going to do when I saw my themes. There was an option to request a different theme, but there was no way I was walking away from my themes! LOL! I am happy with my results and I hope my fellow swappers enjoy them, too!

Sadly, group 1 was full by the time I signed up, so I am in groups 2, 3 and 4. This is group 2. The theme is Standing Still. My first thought was to go with a picture of a lake, but then I stumbled across the picture I used. It is called Time Standing Still. Everything about this picture appealed to me. The quote is one of my favorites, "grow old along with me, the best is yet to be" I don't know where the quote originated, but for me, it's always going to be John Lennon's voice I hear when I see this quote. I associate the quote with my husband and family. We are blessed, and I am truly thankful to have my soul mate to grow old with. This ATC turned out to be very personal for me. I love the concrete clock in the fountain with Father Time, and the soft, muted colors on this picture. I cut small Peacocks from French Manor and corners from Picturesque on my Cricut in SEI blue velvet paper. I added a little bling to the Peacock with Platinum Stickles, and here is how they turned out.

Group 2-Standing Still

Group 3 had the theme Deep In Thought. Once again, what I started out with, is not the ATC that I finished with, LOL! I call my ATC, "I Wonder..."  Don't you think the little girl in the picture is lost in her thoughts? I used a scalloped nestability to crop the photo. A bow and a tiny heart complete the ATC. I went light on the embellishments on all my ATCs this round, I don't know why, I just did...

Group 3- Deep In Thought

We were offered a challenge within the challenge which we could do or just skip. The challenge was to make an ATC that would be personal for us. I know I said that my Time Standing Still card is personal to me, and it is, but I found the perfect personal Advertisement for my group 4. McCauley's Equine Formulas. The feed company with one focus, the horse. Yep, that's their motto! I love horses! I am a McCauley, through and through, so there you have it! It's all personal to me! LOL!

Group 4-Advertisement

Once again I went clean and simple. I printed out the feed company's logo, added some layers, a black velvet horse cut from my Cricut, (I think I used A County Life Cartridge for the cut) and finally, added some Viva Decor. I really like this one.

Thanks for stopping by the blog today!

Happy Crafting!

Colleen