Color Challenge Time

I read Scrapmaster's Paradise pretty often, and I even buy stuff from her from Stampin Up on Occasion. So when I saw this particular color challenge, I knew I HAD to do it!


Look at those lovely colors! Since I've never really participated in one, I figured there was no time like the present. So this is what I came up with:

The colors are all featured, but the picture doesn't do the Anya justice. She's got sparkly lilac and darker purple hair, colorful wings and the paper is really just the right color, too.

If you've never participated in a color challenge, I would suggest you try it out. This week's prize is some AMAZING copic markers. Good luck and Happy Creating!

Just Magnolia Challenge

I felt a little brave today, partially because of the heat, and decided to create a card based on a challenge posted at Just Magnolia.
It's my first time entering the challenge, but overall I'm pretty happy with my result. I used my Prismacolors to color the image and then used some Making Memories paper from a 6x6 stack, some buttons, a Heidi Grace rub on, flowers and stickles and some ribbon. I think I followed the sketch pretty faithfully, but mixed it up a bit. The sentiment has the corner rounder I'm so fond of, LOL. And behind the little girl is a little tag/bookmark that I really enjoyed putting together. I think it would be awesome to get a card with a bookmark on it, LOL.

Call for Ildi Design team AND a digistamp freebie!

I heard about a new digistamp company over on SplitCoastStampers this week. They were not only looking for a design team, but they were giving away a digistamp. An adorable digital stamp featuring a teddy bear. The name is Ildi Co.

Needless to say, as soon as I saw it, I thought about coloring it. I've been doing a lot of coloring lately. So, I followed the instructions on their site and then went ahead and got the image and colored it. Wow, I really like the way it turned out, I think I am really getting the hang of coloring with markers (not to be snotty--I'm pretty sure there are a LOT of other tricks I need to learn.

Anyway, here's my card. I used Making Memories paper (from a few years old 6x6 pack), a Hero Arts sentiment and my Fiskars Threading water border punch--I used a EK success corner rounder on the sentiment, stamped in Black Memento ink. It also represents the first time I made a succesful bigger card in my opinion. The card measures about 5 & 1/2" by 5 & 1/2"--I usually do the cards that come out of cutting a piece of 8&1/2 x 11" in half.

Go on and check out Ildi and try your hand at coloring the image, see what you can come up with. I CHALLENGE you!

One Sheet Wha--??? Challenge

One of the buzzwords I've heard in the cardmaking arena that I keep meaning to ask about is the 'One Sheet Wonder.' What is a One Sheet Wonder? How can it help my creations? Well, the answer is simpler than you think.

Bear with me, you probably already know what a One Sheet Wonder is, and for that I'm sorry that I'm going over something you might already know about, but check out the links toward the bottom of the post for links you may not have seen before.

Okay, say you have 1 day to make 15 cards. Yes, we've all been there. We've all procrastinated. We've said things like 'I can cut out the cards tomorrow, then stamp and color. I'll be fine.' But then life happens, or that book you're reading gets really good or you need to take the kids to the mall--whatever the case something happens and it distracts you from your intentions to make a card. Now, it's 9 pm and you have until 9 am tomorrow to make those cards you promised someone. What do you do?

Okay, this is a sort of emergency, but as much as you might want to call Jack Bauer (we ALL love Keifer, right?), it's not THAT kind of emergency, and in fact the issue can be solved with some paper, glue, your trusty scissors, your trimmer and some stamps/ink. And chances are, you'll be done in time to catch 'The Late Show.'

That's where One Sheet Wonders come into play. The OSW process allows you to create a bunch of cards with different templates from one master coordinating set--saving you time, frustration and sanity.

If you're familiar with the SheetLoad of Cards, this is similar. Where Sheetload has you use multiple papers, OSW has you cut everything from one 12x12 (or an 8 & 1/2 x 11) sheet. A few cuts into your paper (after measuring of course), and low and behold you have enough supplies to make anywhere from 6 to 15 cards.

I think this would be a great idea for those of us who have some time on our hands to showcase some really cool new stamps, or even a really awesome paper that we just HAD to have, but it's too pretty to cut up. If you want to send some cards to a good cause, why not make a set of One Sheet Wonders and send them to Cards for Heroes (restrictions apply, no glitter, please).

So, I'm posting this challenge to you--check out the tutorials below or find a different one AND make your own set of One Sheet Wonder cards. And then write about these in your blog or on a message board. Then you'll need to leave a comment below, with the details, and I'll visit your blog! Everyone who does this before September 1, 2009 will be entered to win some goodies from me--more on that later.

So come on everyone, show me your wonderous one sheets! I'm going to work on a set as well. It'll be featured here on the blog in the coming weeks. Good luck, and be sure to spread the word!

Ink It Up With Jessica tutorial--really detailed.
Mae Collin's OSW Workshop--format for a smaller sheet of paper.
Mish Mash Card tutorial--Patriotic cards with own background.
Another template--8 and 1/2 by 11 template.
Stamping With Mia--The 6th in a multi part series about OSW

I challenge You!

Yes, that's right. I challenge you...

To what?

To Create something for one of the challenges at StampHaven's WinterHaven...



It's a great site, filled with wonderful and creative people, and you will most definitely have a great time, work on something that will impress you and learn something. So go on, check out the forums at Stamp Haven and make a commitment to do something creative!