A Tutorial and Challenge Project

Good morning to all of you and Happy New Year's Eve! It's so hard to believe that 2010 is almost over and before you know it 2011 will be here. The year has flown by and as always I feel like I blinked and missed half of it!

Today I am going to share with you a project I made for the Elisabeth Bell World challenge blog. I found this blog when searching through Elisabeth Bell's beautiful stamps. I have purchased her stamps from SCACD, her digi's from her own personal site AND 7 Kids College Fund is now pre-ordering some of her stamps. I have looked through these images and can't wait to pre-order some myself. She is one of my many FAVORITE stamp artists! Here is a direct link to her challenge blog if you want to check it out!

OK, so onto my project. I came up with a card set and a card box for this challenge. Here it is!

Here is a closer look at the box so you can see her digital image better. The image is called Frosty the Snowman and it is from her digital collection.

I colored my image using my copic markers. I just love my copic markers! The sky background is shaded with my Stampin Up bashful blue stamp pad and the white swirls and dots for snow are Ranger white enamel. The rhinestone swirls are from Recollections. I thought they added a nice touch to this project.

I have a tutorial for this box that you can access by clicking here. I've also this tutorial to the main tutorial page on my blog. Also, new templates have been added to the main template page!

So glad you decided to stop by today,

Marlena

Meljen's Thursday

Well, this week has gone super fast but it is Thursday again and time for a new release from Meljen's Designs! As always these new images are just wonderful and perfect for any winter cards you may be dreaming up. Check out how cute these images are below!

Look at these images, just great, right?! For my project I used Snow Bunny. The challenge for this week is cold and snowy.

Here is my card.

I colored my image using copic markers and I used mostly BV's and V's to color this image. I chose to use those colors because I color with them less frequently and I wanted to see how they would look together. I just love the way they came out! Once I was finished coloring I added glossy effects to the nose, ears and eyes. I added diamond stickles to the top of the snow and Ranger white enamel to the snowing bits.

The snowflakes are a Martha Stewart punch I purchased at Michael's before Christmas and then I added self-adhesive crystals and Tsuninko spray shimmer to show them off! The two sided border is also a Martha Stewart punch! I just love my Martha Stewart punches, They always look so nice!

The borders are distressed using my brand new Zutter Distress tool that I got for Christmas. Can I tell you, I love it! It is just so cool and so much fun to use!!!! Plus, I absolutely love the look it gave my card.

I hope you take the time to stop by the Meljen's challenge blog and see all the other great projects that have been created. Just click here for a fast link to the site. Also, if you want to see other great images created by Melissa click here to get to Whimsy stamps, where Melissa sells her fabulous images.

So Glad You Decided to Stop By Today,

Marlena

Post Christmas Post

Well, December was a long month of preparations and Christmas projects. I spent so much time preparing them that I ran out of time to post anything here. So, today am going to take the time to show what I have been up to for practically the past month.

First, we had a very enjoyable Christmas at our house with our ENTIRE family together as my step-son spent the holiday with us. We were so happy to have him here and have enjoyed every moment of his visit!

The first project I am going to share is an ornament I made using a tutorial I found on the internet. The blog where I found the tutorial had originally gotten it from Martha Stewart online. I also found a box on this same blog but I found it to be a little large and a waste of paper for the size of the ornament. I came up with my own box and dimensions which, for my purposes, I liked much better! I made MANY of these ornaments for day care teachers, friends at work, and family. I had a lot of fun creating them and these pictures are just an example of one ornament and box.

This year I had two different style Christmas cards, although they were similar. One was an image from Mo's Digital Pencil called, Timmy's Stocking. The other was a Magnolia image, Tilda on an ornament. The oval's in my cards and their scalloped oval border, as well as the flower embellishment, were all cut on my Cricut Expression. Both of the images were so much fun to color and I tried to make their features as close to my son and daughter as possible. Here they are!

I also made some mini gift cards for my son's daycare teachers using Fred She Said's pre-colored wreaths and her merry Christmas sentiment. I liked using these because I could make multiple cards quickly.

AND then I made candy boxes for MANY family and friends. Again, the dimensions are my own and so is the design of the box. Here is a picture of different styles and then one with the candy actually in it.

Finally is a box I made for a necklace to send to my mother-in-law. I fell in love with this box the instant I saw it. The tutorial I purchased from Jinky Crafts and it is in here 12 days of Christmas set. I had to change the dimensions just slightly because I had difficulty converting her metric measurements to inches. I really LOVE the way this box came out and can't wait for an excuse to make another one!

Well, if you've made it this far I'm so glad you decided to read through my whole post. I hope to post some SCAL templates for the Cricut Expression and some tutorials for my boxes. We shall see how time works for me this time around!

?So Glad You Decided to Drop by,

Marlena

Merry Christmas!

Good morning and Merry Christmas! I wanted to post this morning and wish all of my paper crafting friends a Merry Christmas! I have been so busy these last few weeks with Christmas preparations and appointments for the kids that I haven't had the time to post any of my personal projects. I hope to post several of my Christmas projects in the next few days with templates I created and tutorials for how to complete them.

If you're wondering how I have the time to type a post on Christmas morning it is because I am an early riser! It is Christmas morning, I am awake and the rest of the family is asleep! Our youngest, who turns two in about 40 minutes, is too young to realize to be so excited to wake up early. Our two oldest are old enough to have lost the early riser excitement! We are blessed to have my step-son spending Christmas with us today!

So, Merry Christmas to all of you! I hope you enjoy a truly wonderful day with family and friends!

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Marlena

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

Well, we've finally gotten a few inches of snow here and even had several school delays this morning. Of course, my daughter's school delayed two hours and where I work happens to get hardly any snow so it was off to work on time. The snow came just in time for this weeks Challenge at the Tiddly Inks Blog. It is a challenge fit for a blizzard. Make a project using a snow theme, which is just what I did!

The digi image from Tiddly Inks I used is called something warm and is a snowman ready to face the cold! I colored him using copic markers and shaded the background with my Stampin Up bashful blue stamp pad. I cut my snowflake circle using my Cricut Expression and my SCAL program. I welded the images together and then just cut it out as one big image. The "Let It Snow" saying in the circle was made using Photoshop 7. I added a few snowflakes and clear adhesive jewels to really make the project sparkle. To give this wall hanging some weight I cut a circle out of chip board, covered it in paper and then adhered my whole project to it.

I hope you are able to take some time to drop by the Tiddly Inks sight and enter this challenge! If not, just click here to drop by and see all the great work the design team has done!

So Glad You Decided to Stop By Today,

Marlena

Phindy's Place Challenge - Freebie

Well, this is a fun challenge at Phindy's Place. Use a freebie in your project, and who doesn't just love a freebie! It's also one of the nice benefits of the digital companies. In fact, some give out freebies once a week! For my project I chose to use the freebie Phindy provided after reaching 1000 members on her PCP group. Now, this is just a great group to belong to! Many really caring and wonderful people belong to this group and I am proud to call them my friends.

Here's how I chose to put my project together. The freebie is titled, join the party.

I colored my image using my copic markers and shaded the outside of the image using my bashful blue stamp pad from Stampin Up. The top of the glass has Glossy Accents on it and the mouse's hat has just a little diamond stickles. The bottom border is a Martha Stewart border and is shaded using antique linen distress ink. The insides of the start bursts have clear crystals and silver self-adhesive pearls. I like the look this combination gave the bottom border.

So Glad you decided to stop by Today,

Marlena

Thursday and New Release at Meljen's Designs

So it's Thursday again and time for a new release from Meljen's Designs. This week Melissa has outdone herself and released several new images. Once you see them you'll fall in love with them and just have to have them all. I know that's how I felt once I saw them! So, without any more waiting, here they are.

And here's my project using some of these great images.

All of my images were colored using copic markers. I of course used some of Meljen's new images Rudolph, Prancer and Santa's Sleigh. The houses are from Tiddly inks and are one complete image. On my images I used a little glossy effects and diamond stickles. Please stop by and see all the other great projects from this new release. Just click here and let the fun begin!

So Glad You Decided to Stop By,

Marlena

Tiddly Inks Challenge - I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

Hi again! This week at Tiddly Inks the challenge is to make a card based upon a Christmas Carol, fun huh?! I'm sure we are all getting into the holiday spirit and caroling up a storm (at home where no one can hear us, right!) Anyway, I had a tough time with this one. I love my Christmas carols and it was so hard to just pick one! But, I finally narrowed it down and here is my card!

I colored my images using copic markers. I have to say coloring with reds and blues are two of my favorites to use. For the reds I used R27, R24, R22, R20 and for the blues on his jeans I used B39, B37, B34, B32. These colors work so well together and you can really see lights and darks nicely with them! Of course my Mr. and Mrs. Claus are Tiddly Ink images. These images are Santa's Helper and Christmas Joy. The tree is from Meljen's Designs and is called Woodland Christmas Tree. I have added stickles to my tree, Mrs. Claus, and star garland. I mean, what is Christmas without shimmer?!

The fireplace was cut on my Cricut Expression. I again went to Goggle images, found the one I liked and then sized it the way I wanted in my SCAL program. This program has been one of my best investments, ever! I use my Cricut so much more often now that I have so many more images to choose from! I put a frame around this one and cut out a border and stars, again on my Cricut Expression, to match my image.

Tiddly Inks images are truly one of my favorites to color. I find it so easy to see the light source and color my image as I imagined it would come out! To see more Tiddly Inks images, click here, to get to the store. If you'd like to enter the challenge, or see more creations by all the talented DT's, just click here.

So glad you Decided to Stop by Today,

Marlena

Fred She Said - Poinsettia Medallion

One of the wonderful qualities about the Fred She Said store is the large variety of images she sells. This winter she has added to her store beautiful Christmas wreath images, winter birds, and Caroling Emma, just to name a few. My project today is made using the poinsettia medallion image. I thought this would work perfectly as an ornament for our Christmas tree.

First I colored the medallion using copic markers. Then I wanted to layer the parts of the medallion to give it some dimension. To keep the coloring similar I again photographed my colored image, fixed the lighting from the photograph, and then printed it as many times as I wanted to use it. I have 4 layers on each side so I needed the medallion a total of 8 times. Of course there is some loss of the image as you cut into the image for each layer. After using mounting tape to make each layer stand out I added a ribbon and bow to the top.

The medallion is embellished with diamond stickles, Viva Decor ice white perfect pearls and black Perfect Pearl. The poinsettia center has a small dot of yellow perfect pearl.

If you'd like to see some more of Fred's wonderful images, click here to get to her store.

Magnolia Challenges

One of the many stamp companies I love are Magnolias! I was hooked from the first moment I saw them. They are just so adorable and incredibly fun to color! I recently found a Magnolia challenge blog, Yahoo, and I can use the cuties at the Seven Kids College Fund Challenge Blog. So, today I am entering my project in 2 challenges. The non-traditional color challenge at the 7 Kids Challenge Blog and an inspirational challenge at the Magnolia-licious Challenge Blog.

For my project I used a new fall image from Magnolia. This stamp is called brother and sister and is just too cute! Of course, I don't know about you, but I just don't remember my sister or I hugging my brother that way!Lol! Anyway, I colored this image with copic markers. The tree in the background is from Meljen's Designs, which you can find here, and I had originally colored it for another project. Then I decided it would work for this one so I photographed it, touched up the lighting in photoshop, and then printed it out the size that I wanted. Just so that we are clear though, I originally colored this tree myself. To save time I simply used my coloring a second time, that's all.

On the tree I used several other mediums. I used silver stickles for the garland, diamond stickles to give the light some sparkle, I wanted to leave them white, and Glossy Effects for the ornaments. To make the window I cut out the rectangles on my Cricut Expression and then adhered them together with pen glue. The backing of the window is clear acetate. To make the snow on the window I first sponged some white stamp pad on the corners and then added diamond effects glue, which I have from Stampin Up. The top corner seemed a little empty so I cut a corner bow from shiny gold paper and then added some diamond stickles. This is the same thing I did for the gold on the frame around my project. The pearls in the bottom corner are Bella's Baubles, which I purchased from SCACD. I find these come in handy when I can't find another other jewel or stone that I want to use on my project.

So, just one more time, here are the challenges I am entering this project into:

7 Kids College Fund Challenge Blog - Non-Traditional Christmas Colors

Magnolia-licious Challenge Blog - Inspirational Challenge

So Glad you Decided to stop by today,

Marlena

New Release Thursday

Well, it's Thursday again and new release and challenge time for Meljen's Designs. As usual Melissa has outdone herself again with some wonderful images that are simply irresistible. I just love this week's images!

See, I told you, great aren't they. My only problem was picking just one to use for this weeks challenge. I love the penguins. My mom collects penguins and I plan on using at least one of these images to make something for her for Christmas!

Well, the challenge at Meljen's this week is a sketch challenge. Sketch challenges are always fun and this one isn't any different. Here's the sketch for the challenge.

And here's the card I made using this sketch.

I used the North Pole Critter image for my card and colored it using copic markers. I added stickles to the pole and used bashful blue ink to shade the background. The sentiment is from Stampin Up's Best Yet set. The snowflakes have smooch spritz and glitter on them. The center is a self-adhesive pearl. The patterned paper is from My Minds Eye.

I hope you take the time to check out the challenge blog for this week by clicking here. Remember you can always find any of Melissa's images, including her rubber stamp line, here at Whimsy Stamps.

So Glad You decided to stop by today,

Marlena

Phindy's Place Challenge - Metal

This week at Phindy's Place the challenge was to use something metal in your card. Since, like most paper crafters, I have an overwhelmingly large number of embellishments, this challenge requirement was easy to fill. I also went searching this week for some new challenges to enter. I found so many great ones and this card is going to be my first dual entry EVER! My card today is also going to be entered in the Challenge at the Friday Sketchers Blog. So, to start, here is my card.

The Phindy's image I used is called Nite, Nite Santa. Since my son is almost two I imagine this is what he is going to look like at Christmas this year. Of course, he won't be holding a Santa doll, it will most certainly be Elmo. I colored the image using my copic markers and shaded the background using my Bashful Blue and Soft Suede stamp pads from Stampin Up. The brads and sentiment are also from Stampin Up. The brads are their rhinestone brads and the sentiment is from their Best Yet set. The crystals around the sentiment were given to me by my sister-in-law many years ago. They always come in handy at the perfect time!

The background paper I purchased at Michael's and is My Minds Eye. I have really started to love this brand of paper and the colors and patterns they use. The border punch is a Martha Stewart punch I purchased at Michael's last year. I embellished this with red and green ink pads and diamond stickles.

Challenges entered:

Phindy's Place

Friday Sketchers

So glad you decided to stop by today,

Marlena