Phindy's Place Challenge - Christmas in Summer

Good morning all! This week at Phindy's Place the challenge was to make a Christmas card. Christmas is my favorite time of year so gearing up to make my Christmas cards is just fine with me! I wanted to add a little something different to my card so I created a sketch for it this time. I am so excited because it is the first time I have ever created a sketch in Photoshop! Then I went to make a template in my SCAL program for the card I wanted. At the end of this post I will include the sketch and the template for the card will be in the templates section of my blog.

I made the card with a rounded front and then made the scalloped edges. The scallop shape was cut as an oval. Then I had to cut the top off before adhering it to my card. The best part about using SCAL was that I could then create the small oval shaping by placing it inside my card front right inside the program. I was able to keep resizing it until it was what I wanted and then I cut it. The final look is exactly what I wanted!

The image is called Kitty Snuggle and of course is from Phindy's Place. I am so excited because Phindy is currently having a sale at her site, buy 3 get 1 free! How great is that! If you're interested you can get to her site by clicking here. I colored using copic markers and a gold gel pen on parts of her hat and shoes. I used diamond stickles on the bottom of her skirt. I wanted it to look like she was standing on snow so I added some dazzling diamonds glitter that I had from Stampin Up. The poinsettias are made using a small Fiskars flower punch, brick red distress ink, and a yellow Viva Decor pearl pen. I am still learning to use these but they are great! I was a little hesitant at first but I love the dimension they keep after drying. I purchased mine at SCACD, which you can access by clicking here. The sentiment is a Stampin Up set called Heard from the Heart. I have been using this set a lot lately. The sentiments in this set just seem to fit so perfectly with many of my cards.

Here is another view of the card with the inside showing at the bottom.

Here is a picture of my sketch.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today,

Marlena

MelJen's Designs - Happy Birthday

Good morning everyone! Today I am entering my card in MelJen's Designs challenge, which is to make a birthday card. For this challenge I chose her image, Lil Rodeo Boy. It is always a challenge to create a card for a boy/male but this image is adorable and would make a great birthday card.

I used copic markers to color the image and shaded the background using the Stampin Up ink pads, bashful blue and creamy caramel. I used a gold gel pen for the stars on the boots and a silver gel pen on a few parts of his gun. The white background is shaded using antique linen and vintage photo distress ink pads. I also shaded the inside of the card the same way. The sentiment is a font called cow girl that is from Two Peas in a Bucket. You can reach their website by clicking here. There are also many great free fonts you can find on the web. The stars are cut using a Creative Memories punch.

Thanks so much for dropping by my blog today,

Marlena

Tiddly Inks Challenge #18 - Back to School

Today I'm entering my second Tiddly Inks challenge. I have fallen in love with their images and find them so much fun to color. The images really give you a chance to work on your copic technique and style!

Back to School is of particular interest for me because that is where I am going, back to school! I teach kindergarten and will be entering my 13th year of teaching, so I find the end of summer bittersweet. Being home with my children is nice but I love teaching and this time of year.

The Tiddly Inks image I chose for my card is called Stand out in a Crowd. I wholeheartedly believe in kids/teenagers, or anyone for that matter, learning that it is o.k. to be an individual. I made this card for my daughter who is going into 8th grade. There is so much pressure to be like everyone else, so I am thankful that she "chooses" to be herself a lot!

I colored the image using copic markers and the image was printed on cryogen paper. I recently discovered this paper by being a part of the Color Me Creative website, which you can find here. The paper itself I ordered from Paper Temptress, which you can access by clicking here. The copic markers work really well on this paper and blend nicely! There is some glitz and shimmer to the paper which took some getting used to, but now I love it!

I thought a sentiment about being an original would be PERFECT for this card so I came up with one and printed it out on my computer. Let's face it, being part of these challenges is all about originality and we should all embrace who we are!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today,

Marlena

Seven Kids College Fund Challenge

The title for this weeks challenge at Seven Kids College Fund is "Strip It Down". The idea is to make a card using two or less design papers on your card. My stamp for this card is called "Gabrielle" and is a Kraftin Kimmie stamp. The girl in this stamp has a definite look of spirit and confidence. You can find this stamp at the Seven Kids College Fund store, which you can get to by clicking here.

I colored her using copic markers. The card and base were cut using my Cricut Expression. The sentiment is from the Stampin Up set, Hope Happens. The Kraftin Kimmie Gabrielle stamp also came with the tea cup, which I adhered next to the sentiment. The flowers are primas that I got from SCACD and Michael's. I applied self-adhesive jewels to each scallop around the oval.

Here is a view of just the sentiment.

I'm so glad that you decided to drop by my blog today,

Marlena

Phindy's Place Oh Baby Challenge - Entry #2

The card I am posting this evening is a second entry into this week's Phindy's Place Challenge. Another fabulous image from Phindy that I fell in love with the moment I saw it. Of course, it helps that it reminds me of my son when he is exhausted and ready for bed!

I colored the card using copic markers. The blues I used were B04, B02, B01, B00, B16, B14, and B12. The yellows I used on the blanket were Y13, Y11, Y00, Y000. Instead of the light blue background that I normally used I shaded the background with the So Saffron stamp pad from Stampin Up. The sentiment is from A Muse stamps and I thought it went with this image perfectly. The card was embellished with three blue brads.

I am so glad you decided to drop by my blog,

Marlena

Phindy's Place Challenge - Oh Baby!

This week at Phindy's Place the challenge was to create a card for an infant or kids. This is the first of two posts that I will be making for the challenge. If you have been reading my blog regularly you know that I just love Phindy's images. She has so many wonderful images that are perfect for this challenge. The first image I used is called "Sleepy Bug". If you'd like to see more of Phindy's great images you can do so by clicking here.

I colored this image using copic markers. The background paper is printable paper from Summertime Designs. This is a site where you can get free printable papers. Her papers are wonderful and you can get to them by clicking here. I used my Cricut Expression to cut my oval and scalloped oval. The sentiment was printed on my computer and cut to the size I wanted. I embellished with Reflections self-adhesive pink pearls, which I purchased at Michaels. I love these self-adhesive pearls because they add a little something to your project and are so easy to use.

There are always so many wonderful cards at the Phindy's Place challenge. You can check out some of the other entries by clicking here.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today,

Marlena

MelJen's Challenge - Teal, Orange & Brown

This week at MelJen's Designs Challenge Blog the challenge was to use teal, brown and orange in your card. The image I used for my card was one of MelJen's free images, a boy and dog.

I colored the image using copic markers. The circle and scalloped circle were cut using my Spellbinders dies. The sentiment is from SCACD and is called Susannaments. The jewels I used to embellish my card are from Martha Stewart. The boy and dog are adhered to the card using Scotch mounting tape. I like using the mounting tape better than the dots you can get for mounting because it is a little sturdier and the image seems to "pop" a little more.

A short post this time. Please come by later for my post for the Phindy's Place Challenge Blog.

So glad you decided to stop by,

Marlena

A Movie Challenge at Tiddly Inks

Good Evening on this rainy Sunday! The card that I am posting today is for a challenge at Tiddly Inks. I just recently found this company and love how cute their images are. If you want to check them out you can go here. They are another digital stamping company which offer a variety of images.

The challenge is to use their images to create your favorite summer movie. Sounds tough, doesn't it. It wasn't so bad! I made my card with the movie "Ever After" with Drew Barrymore in mind. If you've never seen this movie it is a Cinderella movie, and one of my favorites. The scene from my card comes from the end of the movie.

I colored the couple and background using copic markers. In order to give the stone work a little more dimension, I printed the image twice. I then cut the stone and glued it on the second image. Cinderella and Henry were adhered to the card using Scotch mounting tape. I wanted to make them look like they were standing in the room.

The sentiment is from the Stampin Up Set, Heard from the Heart. The flourish is cut on my Cricut Expression and I have put a SCAL template on my template page. I adhered crystals to the flourishes to embellish them.

I'm so glad you decided to stop by my blog today,

Marlena

A 3D Project

Good afternoon and welcome to today's post! After spending all afternoon coloring with my copics for homework in my Color Me Creative 2 Class I decided to stop and share a 3D project with you today. I made a picture frame to hold two amazing pictures taken by my stepson on his last visit. I Absolutely love these photos and wanted somewhere special to put them. I've made simple frames out of chipboard before but wanted to try making a more traditional frame.

I made the frame using particle board that I purchased at our local art store (local for us is 30 minutes away). I used a matte board frame as my template and used a utility knife to cut out the borders and centers. If you would like to have more in depth directions on how I created this frame, e-mail me. My e-mail address is under my picture at the top of my blog.

The two images are digital stamps that are from Mo's Digital Pencil and Phindy's Place. You can get to each of these by clicking here and here. I used copics to color each of them and then cut them out to adhere them to the frame. I tried to get images that spoke to the photos I was putting inside. I then embellished the frame further by using dew drops that I purchased at SCACD, which you can get to by clicking here. Since it is hinged the frame stands on its own.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today,

Marlena

Think Pink

Good morning! Today I am posting two cards for the Phindy's Place challenge. The challenge this week is making a card with pink. I have two cards that I am going to enter in the challenge this week. One of the cards will also be entered into the Color Me Creative Challenge Blog, which you can find here. If you have been reading my blog long enough then you've seen my love of copic markers. I have also decided to take one of the Color Me Creative Classes from Suzanne Dean, whose You Tube videos helped me start developing my own copic technique. You can find those videos by clicking here. I've learned so much from watching those, but now it is time for me to take my technique further. I can't wait to start!

Love Flutterby

Challenges:

Phindy's Place Challenge Blog - Pretty in Pink

Color Me Creative Challenge Blog -Green Grass

Paper Craft Planet Sketch Challenge

The image is from Phindy's Place and is called Love Flutterby. I fell in love with this image because it reminds me of a great photograph of my daughter. She is holding a butterfly very delicately on her finger and smiling. It was just great!

I colored the image using copic markers. The pinks I used are R59, R46, R43, R2, R21, R20 and R11. I also used R01, R00, R000, R0000. The sentiment is from Stampin Up and is from their Circle of Friendship set. The blades of grass are from Magnolia-licious. I used Cameo Coral and Bashful Blue from Stampin Up for the background.

Patience

Challenge

Phindy's Place Challenge Blog - Pretty in Pink

The image is from Phindy's Place and the card I made into an easel card. The image is called appropriately called Patience. I colored using copic markers and used different pinks for this card than I did for the last one. The pinks I used on this card are RV23, RV21, RV10, RV00, Rvooo, RV0000. I also used RV14, RV13, RV21, and RV10. The sentiment is again from Stampin Up and is from their Morning Soft Set. I used the Stampin Up Bashful Blue and Garden Green Stamp pads for the background. The flowers are from Michael's. They have a new selection of flowers now and I love them! I used Glossy Essentials on the water and water drops. If you're wondering how I was able to get the Glossy Essentials on the small drops, I used a toothpick.

Here is a front view of the card.

I've been working on some new SCAL templates which I am going to add to the templates section of my blog.

I'm so glad you decided to stop by my blog today,

Marlena

MelJen's Designs - Seeing Double

Good morning and I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weekend. Today's card I'm entering into MelJen's Design challenge for this week, which is creating a card with two of the same image. Thinking of which images to use turned out to be harder than I thought, but when finished I truly liked the look of the card.

The images are are of course from MelJen's Designs and are called Frufru Fairy Joy and Fancy Butterfly. MelJen's is now selling her stamps at Whimsy Stamps, which you can find here. I colored all of the images using copic markers. I mostly used the RV and BV colors. The color combinations I used are BV04, BV02, BV01, BV00 and BV25, BV23, BV20. For the pinks I used RV14, RV13, RV11, RV10, and RV06, RV04, RV02, Rv00. I also used BV for her dress which were BV08, BV04, BV02, BV01. For the smaller butterfly I also used V06, V05, V01, V000.

I wanted to vary my butterflies just a little so I colored them using slightly different shades and made one a little larger than the other. This is another wonderful benefit of using digital stamps. The sentiment is from SCACD and is from the Susanaments collection. You can get to this website by clicking here.

I also added diamond stickles to all the images and glitter stickles to her bracelet. Her tongue has some glossy accents on it and the jewels are Reflections self-sticking jewels that I purchased at Michael's.

I am so glad you decided to drop by my blog today,

Marlena

A Second Card for Phindy's Birthday Challenge

I have decided to enter a second card in the Phindy's Place Challenge this week. She has so many cute images I can't help myself from printing them out and coloring them. This particular image, Speedster, I colored several weeks ago, but couldn't decide what type of card to make her into. She has been sitting on my desk just waiting to be attached to a card. Today I finally decided to make the image into a birthday card and enter a second card into this week's challenge.

I colored the image using copic markers. The girl's hat, outfit, and skin used the markers Bv08, Bv04, BV02, Bv01, V04, V01, V000, V0000, V06, V05, E11, E00, E000. Her tricycle used the markers BG18, BG15, BG13, BG11. I used Glossy Accents on the tricycle seat and tires. The Happy Birthday sentiment was applied using VersaMark and clear embossing powder. Believe it or not I actually wanted the sentiment to be white and was fairly surprised when it heated to be clear. Needless to say I ended up loving the look and am glad for the mistake.

This card actually utilizes two different types of embossing, heat and dry. The dry embossing was used on the teal background paper. I then applied ink with a sponge to the wrong side of the embossing to get my desired look.

Thanks for stopping by to see my blog today,

Marlena

MelJen's Designs - Clean and Simple

Good morning again and welcome to today's post. My card for today has an image from MelJen's designs and I am entering it into her challenge for this week, which you can find here.

The image is called Miss Fancy Cat. I colored her using copic markers. I used YG03, YG01, YG00, YG000 for her boa and Yr24, YR23, YR21, YR20, BG15, BG13, BG11, and BG10 for her hat and feathers. The cat herself was colored using C9, C7, C5, C3. I added diamond stickles to her boa and hat feathers and Viva Decor glitter to the corner of her glasses. I wanted the glasses to look like they had jewels so I used the Viva Decor instead because it adds a little dimension. For her hat and necklace I used self adhesive pearls. The sentiment and swirl decoration is from the Stampin Up set, Delight in Life.

Since this is a clean and simple challenge the rest of the card has clean lines and only a little embellishment. I loved coloring this image and have so much fun "blinging" her up. Miss Fancy Cat must have bling!

I'm glad you stopped by today,

Marlena

Phindy's Place Challenge

Good morning on this Monday! This week's challenge for Phindy's Place was to make a birthday card. I chose a really adorable image which was one of her Freebies. Another benefit of many digital stamp companies is that they often give away free images and this one is a cute one! You can reach her site by clicking here.

The image is appropriately called Soo Good. I colored it using copic markers. I used the colors E47, E59, E57, E55, R24, R22, R21, and R20 for the cake and frosting. The strawberries are R29, R27, R24 and the mouse is C5, C3, C2 and C0.

I wanted the cake frosting to stand out so I used Glossy Essentials on it to make it look smooth. The cake plate was colored with a silver metallic pen and the black embellishments are a Viva Decor Pearl Pen. The more I use these pens, the more they grow on me. The best part of these pens is that they dry with some dimension. I ordered mine and SCACD, which you can get to if you click here.

The sentiment is from the Stampin Up set Cheery Chat. The card is a scalloped easel card. I cut the card and circles on my Cricut Expression and cut the circle and scallop for the sentiment using my Spellbinder's dies.

Here are some additional views of the card.

A view of the sentiment.

Front view only.

Stayed tuned for more challenge card photos. Next post will be for MelJen's designs, which are now being sold at Whimsy Stamps, which you can find here.

So glad you decided to stop by today,

Marlena

7 Kids Challenge Blog

Good afternoon all! I hope you are enjoying this beautiful Sunday just as much as I am. My card for today is going to be entered into the 7 Kids College Fund new challenge blog. If you'd like to visit this blog just click here. I've just come from the 7 Kids Challenge Blog and there are so many amazing cards entered already it really is worth taking a minute to check it out. For those of you who have never heard of 7 Kids College Fund before, click here. It is one of those great companies that has a large variety of paper crafting supplies. If you are a paper crafter you will love this site!

The image on my card is a Magnolia stamp and you can find it a 7 Kids College Fund or Magnolia-licious. I colored her using copic markers and used diamond stickles on her wings and baby blue stickles on her bows. The copic colors I used are Rv14, RV13, RV02, RV10, B02, B01, B00, Booo, for her dress and bows. Her skin and hair used E11, E00, E000, E0000 and E99, E97, Y21 and Y11. The rose used Y18, Y13, Y11. I added a little Glossy Accents to the edges of the rose to make it look like dew.

The ovals were cut using my Cricut Expression and SCAL program and the roses are Prima roses. I colored her rose yellow because yellow roses are my absolutely favorite rose!

If you like this card feel free to stop by again tomorrow when I post my card for the Phindy's Place Challenge Blog. So many great companies, so little time!

So glad you decided to drop by today,

Marlena

InStyle Wednesday Sketch Challenge

Hi again, I'm glad you decided to stop by and view my blog. Today I am posting a card I made for a challenge for the InStyle Stamps Blog. InStyle is another great company that I've recently started using and they have wonderful images. The company sells digital, as well as traditional, rubber stamps.

The image is a digital stamp from InStyle and is called Tricia and Renee. I found this stamp under the anime heading on their website, which you can reach by clicking here. I colored the image using copic markers, mostly red's and red violet's. The girls hair I colored using a copic hair color chart by Suzanne Dean. One girl is a dark brunette and the other is a golden-red brunette. You can access this chart by clicking here. I love her blog Scrap Bitz and used her copic coloring charts often until I started developing my own style. If you read this blog regularly you may have heard me mention this before, but I really advise checking out her tutorials if you are just starting using copic markers.

Although the sketch doesn't require making an easel card an extra challenge was issued on the site asking that you try. I was just recently introduced to this style of card and love this look! My card is a 6 inch square card. To make it into and easel card I folded the front up at the 3 inch mark and then created another 6 inch square. I adhered the square to the top of the folded part of the card. That is how you get the easel look. To get the card to stand up I stamped a sentiment about friendship, which is from the Stampin up Friendship Flowers set. After mounting the sentiment on brown and pink paper I adhered it to the bottom portion of the card using mounting tape. By "popping up" the sentiment the card can stand and give you the desired "easel" look.

Here is a front view of the card.

And now a view of just the "popped out" sentiment.

To embellish the card I've used prima flowers, a ribbon, charms, and mini-jewels. I colored the larger round charm using Ranger alcohol inks. The girls shirts have diamond and silver stickles to give them some style!

I've really enjoyed using my copic markers. I am refining my style and finding new ways to shade my images. These markers are so much fun to use and have such vibrant colors. The expense can be a major drawback, but once you start using these markers, you're hooked!

Thanks for dropping by,

Marlena

Good afternoon and welcome to today's post. The card below has a Magnolia image, Ballerina Tilda. You can find this stamp in the Magnolia-licious store, which you can go to by clicking here. I enjoy using these images as often as I can and use them on many different types of projects.

I colored Tilda using copic markers. For her dress I used YR02, YR01, YR00, and YR000. Her hair used the markers YR24, Y26, Y21, Y00, and her skin used E21, E00, E000. I wanted to give her a slightly paler look than I often do with other images, so I used E21 instead of E11. Her crown was colored using a glitter gel pen and the bodice of her costume has diamond stickles added. The die cut shapes were cut using my Cricut Expression, Spellbinders dies and an original Sizzix machine. The embossing was done using a Cuttlebug embossing folder.

I used two different types of Prima Flowers on each corner to embellish the card. I just recently discovered these flowers and think they are a nice addition to my projects. These flowers can be found here, at SCACD, or here, at 7 Kids College Fund. Around the borders of all the shapes I sponged distress ink using a sponge dauber.

I recently added some SCAL (Sure Cuts A Lot) templates to the Tips/Templates section of my blog. These are saved in the SCAL format and can be opened using your Sure Cuts A Lot program. If you have any questions about these templates, or about anything I have posted, please feel free to e-mail me at marlenaspaperparadise@gmail.com.

Thanks so much for dropping by,

Marlena

Phindy's Place Challenge - Clean & Simple

Hello out there, today I am posting my entry for this week's Phindy's Place Challenge Blog. The theme for this week is clean and simple. This is a look I tend to enjoy so I thought I would have a fairly easy time creating it, but was I wrong. After spending so much time recently trying to add tasteful embellishments to my cards and projects switching back to the clean and simple look wasn't quite as easy as I remembered. I also chose to use a boy image, which limits my choice of papers, so I made it even harder for myself.

Below is the card I am entering for this week.

I colored the image using copic markers. For the boy's skin I used E11, E00, E000. This is a combination I found at Suzanne Dean's blog, Scrap Bitz, which you can access here. I colored his shirt using YR18, YR16, YR14, YR12, and for the strips I used YR24, YR23, and YR 21. The pants used B37, B34, B45, B41, and all the red parts on the image used the markers R29, R27, R24, R22. When coloring I really tried to accent the light and dark spots with shading.

The image is called, "Little Squirt", and is of course from Phindy's Place, which you can find here. I thought it was incredibly adorable and it reminded me of my son. I used Spellbinder's dies for the image paper and background and PhotoShop and my Cricut Expression to cut out the firefighter hat.

The Phindy's Place Challenge Blog always has so many wonderful entry's. You can click here to enter or to see all the great cards by her design team and other entrees.

Thanks for dropping by,

Marlena