I am finally getting around to sharing this photo of a hand lettered sign I made for my best friend Joni--we met years ago in a college class and when she asked "Hey, can I see your pen?" I knew we were soul mates!  She lives halfway across the country now, and we write letters pretty regularly (she is better at it than I am) so this saying made me think of her!  I've always loved playing with different fonts and lately have been trying my hand at brush lettering.  This brush lettering was done with a Copic marker and the rest of the font was done with a Faber Castell Pitt artist pen size S (sent to me from Joni for my birthday!)  and shaded with Copic markers in cool gray and blue-greens.  The outline of the clock face was done with a metallic Pitt artist pen although unfortunately the camera didn't pick up the shine.  

This is my card entry to the monthly progressive challenge at From the Heart Stamps.   This cute little snowman image is designed inside his own frame, but I thought it might be fun to cut him out and give him a shaker window with iridescent glitter and snowflake sequins.  I created a shaker pocket using the fuse tool--in hind sight, I should have used my powder/anti-static tool on the inside of the pocket so the tiny glitter wouldn't stick to the plastic, but I guess it adds to the look of a frosty window...   The snowman is colored simply with Copic markers and his is glued to the inside panel of the card, with a few snowflakes and marshmallow sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.  

Here is my entry for the Gerda Steiner Designs progressive monthly challenge for February. It's a very simple card this month.  I added the sentiment to the image before printing onto 110 lb white cardstock, then I used Copic markers to color the image--very light warm gray to give the bunny just a bit of shading, blush for his cheeks and ears and light blue around him to help the bunny pop off the page a bit.  The panel is cut out using a stitched border die from Simon Says Stamp and glued to a light gray, top fold note care using a piece of craft foam.   As a final touch I added just a few small sparkling clear sequins, also from Simon Says Stamp.  I hope this card will make the recipient smile.

I am not in the habit of NewYear's resolutions, but one thing I told myself I wanted to do this year was to enter more online card challenges.  So, I am starting off with two challenges for January and I am barely making the deadline. :)

For the first card I am using the cute Cozy Kittens digital stamp from From The Heart Digital Stamps.  This is the January image for the progressive challenge on their site.  These cute kitties reminded me of my two cats, although I am not sure I have ever seen them quite so loving to each other.  

 

 I printed the kitties onto some Coredinations 110b card stock and colored them using Prismacolor colored pencils.  I blended the coloring with gamsol and fussy cut the image, using a black felt marker around the edges for a cleaner looking cut.   I glued the image to a piece of vellum that I had traced one of the included sentiments onto, then I used a Pigma Micron pen to add back in the little whiskers that I lost when cutting.  I heat embossed some brush stroke hearts with silver embossing powder onto some Bazzil Candy Hearts card stock for a background and added the vellum piece using foam tape hidden behind the kitties.  The card base is a piece of linen textured grey card stock cut to 11 by 41/2 and folded to create a top folding card.   

Card number 2 today is also a cat themed Valentine card.  This cat image is from Gerda Steiner Designs and also the image for the progressive challenge.

 

This guy is also printed on 110lb Coredinations paper and colored with Copic Markers (I used the warm grey colors for the kitty along with just a tiny bit of blush for his ears and cheeks and 2 red shades for the heart).  I added Wink of Stella glitter brush pen and Glossy accents to the heart for extra sparkle.  For the background, I smooshed Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick and Festive Berries Distress inks onto my craft mat, sprayed the ink with water and layed a piece of card stock down onto it.  I was hoping for a bit of an ombre effect and I am happy with the results.  After the color was dry, I let drops of clean water fall onto the paper and blotted these up with a paper towel for a splotchy look.  I then glued this piece to the grey card base left over from card #1 and mounted the kitty on an action wobbler.  I have made several cards with action wobblers recently and they always make me smile!  

Here is my card for the monthly card challenge for From the Heart Stamps.  I printed this cute image on Kraft yardstick and used my Prismacolor colored pencils to color it in.  I love the look of the colored pencil on kraft paper.  I found an image of Chickadees online and used tried to represent that in the coloring of the birds.   The kraft panel is cut using a stitched rectangle die from Simon Says Stamp and it is mounted onto a white card base using a tape runner.  It's a simple, almost one layer card but I think it allows the cute birds and lovely apple blossoms be the stars!

Here is my entry for the Gerda Steiner Designs monthly card challenge.  This little skunk reminds me of "Flower" from the Bambi movie and he (she?) made me smile!  I used this card as a reason to break out my new Prismacolor colored pencils that I received for Mother's Day!  I used odorless mineral spirits and paper stumps to blend the coloring on the skunk.  I then fussy cut the skunk, went around my white edges with a black brush  pen to hide the white core of the paper, and tied a little baker's twine bow around the flower stem.  The bow is finished off with a tiny pearl embellishment, but it's pretty hard to see in the photo.   The background is simple blending with distress inks (scattered straw and broken china).  I added the die cut grass cut from My Favorite Things  dies and sprayed the background and grass with  shimmer spray(made with pearl pigment powder and water).  The background panel is mounted onto fog card stock (Simon Says Stamp) with foam tape.  Hope you enjoy!

Here is a card I made featuring a digital image from From the Heart Stamps  This little piggy is the April image of the month--he comes with several sweet sentiments, including the ones I used here.  The background is created from Washi adhesive sheets from We R Memory Keepers.  I stumbled upon this pack at Joanne's and it was in my stash for quite some time.  I cut a strip from one of the patterns for the wine bottle "label" as well as the stripe on the inside of the card.  The pig and his wine are colored with Copic markers, with a touch of Wink of Stella Marker to make the wine sparkle.  I glued the wine glass, bottle and cork down using Ranger multi matte medium, but the pig is mounted on the card using an Action Wobbler (purchased from the Simon Says Stamp store).  You just can't help but smile when you see him wiggle!