Fred She Said - Emma the Snowman Hugger

Good early morning everyone. Hope all of you that celebrated Thanksgiving had a wonderful one and are now resting off the mountains of turkey that has been eaten. If you ventured out on Black Friday I hope you found the deals you wanted and were home in time for Breakfast. Lol! I went out for the first time this year early on Black Friday. I did find a few bargains, but I'm not sure I'll try it again anytime soon! Much to much confusion and craziness for me!

So, my project today is a stair card that I made using one of Fred's winter images. I just love this one and had to use it as soon as I saw it! It is called Emma the Snowman Hugger. The digi comes with a few sentiments as well and I chose to use them on my card. They were just perfect and had to be shared! I made a stair card for the very first time and couldn't believe how easy it was to do!

The stair card is so simple, you'll be amazed if you've never tried one before! You cut your paper to the size 10.5 by 5.5. The you score it at 1.25, 2.5, 4.25, 6 and 8.25. Then you fold it in a stair fashion and presto, you're done! Really easy, right!? Embellish as desired and you will get the card you want!

I colored Emma the Snowman Hugger using my copic markers. If you've never colored white with your copics it is probably one of the easiest shades to color. For the snowman I used C3, C1, C00 and BG10. Only color the areas that would be shaded. Use the C's first and then go over them with the BG10 to give it that cold look. I always use my colorless blender as well over the ends of my shading to give it a smoother look! If you are coloring white for non cold objects use everything exactly the same except leave out the BG10.

My snowflakes are cut on my Cricut Expression and I used Viva Decor perfect pearl the embellish the edges. I purchased my Viva Decor products at SCACD, which you can get to by clicking here. And, of course, if you want to look at this great Fred She Said image, or many more you can click here to get to her store. She has many Christmas and winter images in the store now! Plus, you should check out her PCP group. She is having a wonderful challenge with some great giveaways. To get to her group on PCP, just click here.

So glad you decided to stop by today,

Marlena

Tiddly Inks Tuesday

Well, it's Tuesday again and time for a new Tiddly Inks Challenge. It's time to get the holiday season started and make a Christmas themed card. I have to say that Christmas is my absolute FAVORITE holiday! The lights, sparkles, songs, cheeriness, I love it all and just feel great this time of year. Of course, my son being born on December 25 almost two years ago just added to my holiday joy!

For my card I used two images, Whatcha Giving and the gift image. Here's the outside of my card.

I colored my images using copic markers and this one took a long time. I wanted all my packages to look different and yet to compliment each other. Some of the images have glossy accents to make them look like satin ribbon. Others have stickles to make the packaging sparkle. To me Christmas is a variety of packages with various textures, designs and colors. This is what I wanted my card to look like. To get the window look I cut out the center of my card using a Spellbinders rectangle die. The frame is cut on my Cricut Expression after measuring the sizes that I wanted. The patterned paper is from My Minds Eye and I purchased it at Michael's. The jewels are self-adhesive, also from Michael's. The dotted border is a style I have seen many times done by Mary Giemza at her blog, My Cardz, My Passion, My Therapy, which you can find here. This is my first try at it but she does it amazingly well!

Here is the inside of my card.

The image is actually adhered to the inside of the card and then when close you can see it through the window. The sentiment is a Stampin Up stamp and is from their Best Yet set.

I hope you take the time to stop over at Tiddly Inks and check out this weeks challenge. Of course you'll want to check out all of the amazing DT cards. Just click here to do so! Christy's images are SO much fun to play around with, I just can't resist them!

So Glad You Decided to Stop by Today,

Marlena

Chinese Tilda

Good morning all! Hope you are all having a relaxing Sunday! The holiday season is fast approaching and I am having Thanksgiving dinner at my house for the first time. Although I KNOW it is going to be a lot of work, I am excited about it!

Today's card uses a Magnolia image, Chinese Tilda. I know I don't post them as much as other images, but I absolutely LOVE Magnolia stamps! This Chinese Tilda is just wonderful and I am entering this card into 7 Kids Challenge Fund Give Thanks Challenge.

I colored my image using copic markers, of course! After coloring I added diamond stickles to the flowers, cuffs, and bottom of her dress. The border flower stamp is Cherry Blossom and is from Rubber Stampede. I colored this with Stampin' Up markers and added diamond stickles to the flowers here as well. I also added yellow Viva Decor Pearl Pen to the middle of these flowers. On the red background paper I added a tri-pattern of black dots using a black Glaze Gel pen. I thought this would fit the image nicely since she has this pattern of dots on her dress. I like the Glaze Gel pens because they dry being a little raised from the paper.

The fan was cut using my Cricut Espression and my SCAL program. It was cut using a template from Penny Duncan's blog, which you can access here, and by making the rectangle shape small and cutting it MANY times. The sentiment is from a clear stamp set that I have had for awhile.

Here is a close up of my colored Tilda.

So Glad you decided to drop by today,

Marlena

Meljen's - New Release Thursday!

Good morning everyone! Here it is again, a day of new release images for Meljen Designs. You know what that means, a new challenge has been posted as well. This week we want you to make a card using anything that sparkles, glitters, or shines. I have to say I LOVE to make things sparkle so I absolutely enjoyed making my card this week! BUT first, here are the wonderful new images that are being released today!

Aren't these images great! I just love them, of course! For my card I chose to use the snow star ornament. Here is my design!

I wanted to really make my card sparkle so I made a white tree with Shimmer Spritz added to it. I envisioned those old fashioned aluminum trees that everyone used to have. In our house we had a silver one that decorated our porch every year with a beautiful color light on it and red bulbs. Believe it or not I just loved that tree!

The ornaments are colored with copic markers and have self adhesive crystals added to them. I also used diamond stickles on the ornaments. The sentiment is from Stampin Up's snowflake set. The garland on the tree is self adhesive pearls and crystals.

To make the tree I cut the foundation using my SCAL program and my Cricut Expression. Then I cut 1/4 in. strips from white paper and glued it over top so it had the look of a tree. I made the card into an easel card because I thought it would show off the project better.

If you like these images and this card then click here to see all the other great projects by the Meljen's design team. If you'd like to purchase one of these beautiful digi's then click here to get to Whimsy Stamps.

So glad you took the time to drop by today,

Marlena

Meljen's - A Special Release

Hi everyone, today Melissa from Meljen's Designs is having a special release of some new images! This release is coinciding with the one year anniversary of the death of her dad. Melissa wanted to celebrate the life of her father, Keith Smith, and so she is releasing fishing images. Fishing was one of her dad's favorite past times.

Here are the images being released today.

And here is the card I made using these images.

I colored my image using copic markers. The boots and the bobbers have glossy effects on them to give them their "rubbery" look. The sign is actually a Sizzix die that I scanned into my computer and then cut using my SCAL program and my Cricut Expression. The label die behind the Fisher Moose and Bucket of Worms is a Spellibinders die.

With this special release Melissa is also offering the chance to win a free moose image! Just hop on over to the main blog by clicking here. Once there leave a memory of one of your favorite relatives or friends to be entered into the drawing. You can enter a second time if you have joined Melissa's Facebook page. Just click here, join this page if you haven't already, and leave another memory of a favorite relative or friend and you will be entered into the drawing a second time. What a great way to honor Melissa's dad's life and memory!

Hope you can stop by the blog and help us all celebrate the life and memory of Melissa's dad!

So glad you decided to drop by today,

Marlena

Meljen's - Hot Apple Pie

If you are a follower of Meljen's, like I am, you will know that Thursday's are the days that the new releases come out! With fall here and Thanksgiving on it's way Melissa has made some wonderful images to use for just such an occasion. Below are the images she released this week.

Aren't these images just great! I know I love them. I made a card using the hot apple pie digi. In my family Dutch apple pies are a favorite dessert and no one can make them like my grandmother can! Although, if you ask my daughter, she'll tell you that her Nana, my mom, makes a great dutch apple pie! Actually, they're both pretty good!

I colored my image using copic markers. After coloring I added diamond stickles to the bow and Glossy Accents on the apple. The background shading is a So Saffron stamp pad from Stampin Up. The sentiment is a Susanament from SCACD. This image just made me think of all the memories so many of us have from those wonderful holiday dinners and, of course, desserts. The two jewels I have had FOREVER and can't remember where I purchased them. The patterned paper is K & Company.

If you love this image then just click here to get to Whimsy stamps and Meljen's new digis. The DT members have made some wonderful cards for Meljen's food challenge this week. Click here to see them and join in this week's challenge!

So glad you decided to drop by today,

Marlena

Fred She Said - Blog Hop Time

Hi, Welcome to the Fred She Said Blog Hop. Hope you are enjoying your hop so far! If you have come here from Nancy's blog, then you are on the right track! Glad you have gotten this far in the hop. If you haven't come from Nancy's blog and want to go back to the beginning, then click here to get back to Tracey-Lynn's blog.

For my card I used Tracey's new ornament images. These ornaments are beautiful and I just couldn't wait to use them in a project. This is also my first triple fold card. I have seen them all over the place and couldn't wait to give one a try. The ornaments are colored using copic markers and have stickles added to them, I love glittery ornaments. The hooks have a small dot of Viva Decor Perfect Pearl. The pearls on the card's corners are self-adhesive and the sentiment is an Inkadinkadoo clear stamp.

Before you hop on over to Maria's blog don't forget to pick up your word so you can be entered for a prize at the end of the hop. My word is NEW. Now click here to hop to Maria's blog, collect your next word and see what wonderful project Maria has created with Fred's Designs.

So glad you decided to play along! Hope you enjoyed all the great projects along the way.

Thanks so much for dropping by,

Marlena

Phindy's Place - 3-2-1 Challenge

I'm cutting it close but my card this evening is for this weeks challenge at Phindy's Place. The challenge is to use 3 of an item, 2 of another item, and 1 of a 3rd item. It is much easier than it sounds! I absolutely LOVE Phindy's images and enjoy participating in her challenges.

For my card I used one of Phindy's new Christmas images, Gingerbread Delight. I colored her using copic markers and added Perfect Pearl to her gingerbread man for his decoration. I wanted him to look like he had actual frosting on him. For my 3, 2, 1 part of the challenge I used 3 flowers, 2 crystals in her hair, and one image. I cut my scalloped card and circles on my Cricut Expression. I am adding the file for this card to the template section of my blog.

So Glad you were able to Drop by today,

Marlena

Fred She Said Digi of the Week

This week I had the privilege of choosing Fred's Digi of the Week image. I chose Emma and the Chickadee and made a card and an ornament box with this image. If you want to take advantage of the 40% of the image this week click here to head on over to Fred She Said.

I colored my image using copic markers. I love using the color blue at Christmas but I thought it would be nice to put a little red in my image. It was the first time I had ever colored a chickadee and coloring such a small one was a challenge. I wanted to make sure the colors were correct so I pulled up several images on Google image so I could color it. Boy I am grateful for Google images, I have been using this internet function quite a lot lately.

For my card I decided to give the opening a little flap. I used a snowflake border punch here and then enhanced with contrasting paper and self-adhesive jewels. The snowflakes are a Fiskars punch and are enhanced with the same self-adhesive jewel.

Here is what the card looks like without the flap.

And here is my ornament box, minus the ornament. I really enjoyed putting this box together.

Something interesting about the box is that I used my colored image twice. The card Emma is colored using my copic markers but the Emma on the box is printed from a scan on my computer. I wanted both Emma's to look the same so after coloring her I scanned her and then sized her to what I wanted. After that I simply adhered her to the box! Fred has so many amazing images, including a great new holiday assortment! It's worth the time to go and take a look!

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Marlena

Tiddly Inks - Fall Princess with a Scene

Good morning to all of you! It's time for another challenge to begin at the Tiddly Inks and for this challenge you have two weeks to enter! This time of year who couldn't use another week to get anything done! There are so many wonderful princess images at Tiddly Inks it was hard for me to choose which one I wanted to use! Just click here to get to the Tiddly Inks store.

For my card I used the Dream Castle digi and Kiss me digi. I colored them using copic markers and added diamond stickles to the princesses bow on her dress. The background image is shaded using by bashful blue Stampin Up stamp pad and the matted border is shaded using the color pumpkin pie, also from Stampin Up. To get the frame for my card I cut it out using my Cricut Expression and my SCAL program. The jewels on the corners I ordered from 7 Kids College Fund. These jewels are not self adhesive so boy did I have A LOT of fun gluing them on!

Here's a view of the inside of the card. I wanted to use this cute tree, also from Tiddly Inks, on the outside but I just couldn't get it to look the way I wanted so I rethought my idea and placed it on the inside. No Problem! Here it is.

If you like my card you will just LOVE all the other great projects by the other DT members at the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog. Just click here to stop by and take a look. Maybe you'll decide to join the challenge while you are there!

So glad you decided to stop by today,

Marlena

Fred She Said - Emma the Snow Angel

Oh, it has been a cold and horrible week here but the sun is finally coming out and the dampness has gone away. I know that winter is almost here but a dry cold is soooo much better than a damp cold! What I do LOVE about winter is all the adorable winter images that are out there to play with. There is just something about snow, hats and mittens that make everything look better! Now, if you had asked me that two years ago when I was 8 months pregnant and without power for 6 days my story would be different. All I can say is THANK GOODNESS for generators and family!

So, my card is using a WINTER image of Fred's and it is Emma the Snow Angel. I have so many fond memories of making snow angels in my youth, many moons ago. This image just spoke to me and I LOVED coloring her.

I wanted to do something different with this card but I just couldn't figure out what. So, I decided to change the orientation of the square and make it a diamond. It is still a 6 inch square, just turned on it's side. The card now opens from the corner instead of from one of its longer sides. I colored Emma using copics and shaded the border around her using a Stampin Up soft sky stamp pad. This color was almost exact to the BG 10 I used over my grays when shading my paper so it helped to give more of an illusion of snow. The scalloped rectangle and snowflakes are cut using my Cricut Expression and my SCAL program. I LOVE my SCAL program. These snowflakes were found using Google images and then I just brought them into my program, resized them and cut. How great is that!? I also sprayed some Sparkle and Frost spritz on my dark blue background paper and snowflakes.

Here is a view of the card opened.

A little different, I know, but I do like the way it came out! If you're interested in looking at some other great Fred images just click here to get to the Fred She Said shop. If you're a member of Paper Craft Planet you can also check out her group there!

So glad you decided to stop by today,

Marlena

Meljen's - Use 3 Shapes

Today at Meljen's Designs is a release of new images and the start of a new challenge. The challenge is to use 3 different shapes on your card. As always Melissa's new images are AMAZING and I just couldn't wait to use them on my card. You can find her images and the new challenge at the challenge blog, which you can get to by clicking here. If you would like to purchase some of these amazing images you can do so at Whimsy Stamps, which you can get to by clicking here.

I used two of Meljen's new images on my card, Country Scare Crow and Fall Wreath. I really just fell in love with this fall wreath from the first moment I saw it! The crow just seemed to fit perfectly sitting on top! I colored both images with copic markers and added diamond stickles to the bows. The leaves at each corner are cut using my Cricut Expression and my SCAL program. The pearls are self adhesive.

The three shapes I used on this card are a circle, rectangle and diamond(or square, whichever way you look at it!). I've realized that I tend to use bright reds, oranges and yellows for my fall cards, which is of course the case here.

I had fun making this card! These images are too perfect to pass up!

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Marlena

Tiddly Inks - Purple, Mustard and Olive Green

Good morning to all of you! So glad you decided to take the time to stop by my blog today. Tiddly Inks has started their new challenge for this week. The challenge is a color challenge, which is to use purple, mustard, and olive green on your card. I have to say these aren't colors I often use together, but I was happy with the results when I finished my card. I'm always looking for ways to inspire my creativity when making my projects by stepping out of my "comfort zone".

The image I used for my card is Gossemer. I just love this image and she was so much fun to color, which I did using copic markers. The background is shaded using my bashful blue stamp pad from Stampin Up. I embossed my border with a cuttlebug embossing folder. I used Spellbinders dies for my purple background border. The sentiment is from the Unity Stamp Co. set, Butterfly Beauty. The pearl embellishments are Bella's Baubles, which I purchased at SCACD. The flowers are primas.

Here is a close up of Gossemer.

I hope you take the time to click here to check out the challenge and all the other wonderful DT cards at the Tiddly Inks challenge blog. If you want to check out other great Tiddly Inks images you can click here. I just love Christy's images. The second I found this site I instantly fell in love with them!

Thanks so much for stopping by today,

Marlena