May Christmas Cards!!

I actually got them made before midnight (my time anyway) and posted even! This month Tracy posed a color challenge for us:
Here are my cards:

Card base is Kraft with a poinsettia of Riding Hood Red dp and SU sentiment from Graateful Greetings punched with the large oval punch. The rest of the pieces were all cut using nesties. I stamped a holly cluster mini background stamp (SU) in Versamark and embossed with clear ep.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Google Reader Problems

Anyone else having problems with Google Reader today? I keep getting error messages and it logs me out of Google entirely and I have to log back on to do anything. Yikes - I have days and days of posts to catch up on and I get kicked off every few minutes. If I don't make it by your blog and leave you some love, it's not because I haven't tried!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Kaboodle Doodles Recipe Challenge

Well, it's time for another great challenge over on the Kaboodle Doodles Challenge Blog. This time Faye has cooked up a wonderful recipe challenge for us - 3 papers, 2 embellishments, 1 image. Here's my card:


More Orchid Opulence here along with some Summer Sun and some digi dp from pcCrafters. The image is from The Prairie Fairy and the sentiment is from SU. I used some new large scallop oval nesties on this to cut out the image and I also used some of that new "toothy" paper that I picked up. Image is colored with - what else - re-inkers and an aqua-painter!

Be sure to stop over and check it out. Our sponsor for this challenge is The Prairie Fairy and Roberta has generously offered 5 digi stamps from her store as a prize.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.!

What the hail!

We were hit with a hail storm last night - pea to marble sized hail that was inches deep in spots. Here's some pix of what it did to some of my poor plants:

I'm hopeful that most of this will survive and come back. The iris, while badly battered, will for sure be back next season. I may have to replant my tomatoes and I think I'll go ahead and harvest the rhubarb and get it in the freezer. My car was not damaged and the greenhouse window survived just fine even though I thought for sure the hail was going to crack it. Once things dry out a bit, I'll get the broom out and compost all the leaves. The joys of living in Colorado in the springtime - at least it wasn't several inches of snow! Don't laugh - it's happened in May before.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Sentimental Sundays Challenge #5 - Thankful

This week Ann has challenged the team to make thank you cards. Here's mine:


There's a wonderful free set available too, the first in a series that Ann is featuring using sentiments chosen by the design team. This week's sentiments come from team member Annika and they are wonderful. Be sure to stop by the Sentimental Sundays challenge blog and download those and while you are there, why not post a card for our challenge and get a chance to win some more wonderful sentiments designed by our fearless leader Ann Vento.

Card base here is Apricot Appeal and I've used the much maligned Orchid Opulence as my accent color. Both of these are from SU and will be retiring in June. I colored the image using re-inkers and an aqua-painter - surprise, surprise! The image is from KLM Designs and the sentiment is by the wonderfully talented Ann Vento, of course. The background is from Stampabilities and was stamped in Apricot Appeal. I used a MS punch to create my paper ribbon and added some dew drops for a bit of bling.

I am really, really hoping to get my cards made for this month's Christmas card challenge posed by Tracy - missed it last month. It's a fun color challenge this month and I have lots of ideas - just need to get busy!

There's a fun new challenge debuting tomorrow on the Kaboodle Doodles challenge blog so be sure to stop by and check that out too!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Another Delightful Challenge

By participating in last week's challenge, I got an adorable digi from Faith at Designed2Delight to use for this week's challenge. Here's a couple cards I made with it:



The image on the topo card (Cameo Coral cardstock) was colored with re-inkers and an aqua-painter. The other one (Summer Sun cardstock) is a combination of digi coloring (for the background) and re-inkers and an aqua-painter. I used Green Galore and Apricot Appeal (SU retiring colors - sniff, sniff) as accents. Sentiment is from Inkadinkado and is punched and layered using SU punches.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

A Dragonfly Thank You

I've been a bit lax playing outside challenges (challenges not related to the design teams that I am on) and today I decided I couldn't pass these up. This is for the Delightful Inspiration Challenge and also for the Alphabet Challenge Blog - D is for Dragonfly challenge. I have not played at either of these blogs before and it was lots of fun making this little dragonfly card. It's 3x3 of Lemon Tart cardstock with more of that fun dotted Tempting Turquoise from the Island Oasis dp from SU. The image is colored with SU markers and I added a little Champagne Mist to give the wings a little sparkle. The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and I added a couple of turquoise flower brads. Perfect little card to tuck into a thank you gift for a friend.


Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

More flowers

Everyone who knows me knows what a nut case I am for flowers. Since I began playing with this re-inker/aqua-painter process I have been painting flowers, flowers and then some more flowers. Here's a few more of my flower cards:




Sentiments are all by Ann Vento (Raindrop Echo Designs).

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Some Poppies!

Here are a couple of cards made with a wonderful freebie image from Birds Cards. If you have an hour or so and enjoy using digital images, you really should stop by her blog and check out what she has to offer - incredible stuff!



The first card features a sentiment from the talented Ann Vento (Raindrop Echo Designs) and a couple of butterflies punched with a MS punch. Card base is black with Real Red matting on the image. The second card features a sentiment created by yours truly and has a card base of Real Red with black and Kiwi Kiss accents. I colored the images with - you guessed it - re-inkers (Real Red and Kiwi Kiss) and an aqua-painter! I picked up some "toothy" cardstock yesterday and am experimenting with this method of coloring on it - I think it shows great promise and hopefully I'll have some cards to share soon.

I've added a couple of poppy pictures to the slideshow at the top of the blog and wind permitting I'll take a few more this afternoon as there looked to be many more blooms when I left this morning. There's also lots more iris blooming too!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

New Release day at Catch the Bug

It Tuesday - time for a new release at Catch the Bug. Here's my card made with one of the new images:



For this card, I again took one of Jodie's floral motifs, colored it and created digital designer paper with it. It's fun to create your own paper colored to match the image! I colored my image using re-inkers and an aqua-painter using Real Red, Elegant Eggplant and Close to Cocoa ink from SU. The yellow background, her face and her sunglasses were colored in my graphics program and then printed. Card base is Real Red with a mat of Elegant Eggplant under the dp. The ribbon is also from SU and the flowers were punched with a flower punch from SU. I added some of my little gems to give this card a bit of bling.

I'll be back a bit later with a couple of cards featuring poppies - one of my favorite flowers this time of year!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Seed Packet Card

Last Monday night, the girls and I were ogling a gorgeous card by Julie Masse and I decided to have a go at designing a seed packet graphic of my own. Here's the end result:



The coneflower is from Prairie Fairy and the hydrangea is a freebie from Nina (Crafting in Croatia). I found a seed packet graphic online and then edited out everything but the frame and corner flowers in my graphics program. I added text in a font I liked, converted the flower graphics to transparent gifs that I could layer on top and viola - a personalized seed packet. Fall River is the town where dh grew up, but I doubt that they have a seed company there - more of a mill town than a farming one. Julie has a link to an actual seed packet template and I'm going to try making a card and having an actual seed packet on the front instead of just a picture.

I'm really having lots of fun making my own custom graphics and digital sentiments. If you see anything here that you like that I've done and would like it, just drop me a line and I'll send you the file. I'll have another sentiment set available soon too!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Sentimental Sundays Challenge

It's time for a new challenge over on the Sentimental Sundays Challenge blog. This week we are making get well cards and Ann has a great new freebie for you to download. Here's my card using a sentiment from one of Ann's sets:


I painted this image with re-inkers and an aqua-painter (my fave technique of the moment). Card base is Lemon Tart (PTI) with Tempting Turquoise (SU) punched with a MS punch. The sentiment is mounted on a piece of punched Island Oasis dp (SU). I stamped an image from In Full Bloom (one of my favorite SU sets now retired) and embossed it in white.

Be sure to stop over and check out all the great projects by the design team and while you're there pick up Ann's fantastic freebie sentiment set and make a card for our challenge.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

I love to color!

I love to color, always have. I also love learning new coloring techniques and I am always experimenting. Lately, I have been experimenting with using re-inkers and an aqua-painter. I have a bunch of cards made, but the sun has gone down and I only have one to show you now. This is an image from Prairie Fairy and I absolutely love it. I'm making a set of these and am not putting any sentiments on them. I'll leave it up to the sender to write their own inside.


DS came by with the grandkids and while he mowed and weed whacked the kids and I played. It was great! The wind was really blowing this afternoon, so I put off my planting till tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be quite so breezy!

Here's the latest flower shots, note the WHITE Allium that are getting ready to bloom!






Thanks for visiting! There's a new challenge coming tomorrow on Sentimental Sundays, so be sure to stop by and visit.

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Time for a Challenge at Catch the Bug

Well, it's time for another challenge over on the Catch the Bug Challenge blog. This week, it's a themed sketch challenge! Here's the sketch:The theme is to make a male oriented card. Here's mine:


Be sure to stop over at Catch the Bug and check out all the great creations by the design team.

The day dawned sunny and bright, so I'm headed to the garden. I'll be back later with some more cards I've been working on.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Freebie Friday

I am way, way late with this post today. Been working on some stuff that I will be showing you over the weekend. Here's my card with today's Freebie Friday image from Catch the Bug - isn't she a hoot!


My organization project is progressing - slowly but surely. Hope to have lots of time outside this weekend. DS is hopefully coming to help mow the lawn and I think it may finally be safe to plant my annuals and the tomatoes and peppers.

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

First Fruits and an Oldie Bug Goodie

Take a look - my first harvest:


I added it to my salad and it was yummy!

Today is Oldie Bug Goodie day on the Catch the Bug challenge blog. Here's my card:


I was home from work today with a sinus headache - couldn't keep my glasses on for more than about 1/2 hour at a time. Come on summer!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

More Lady Bugs

This card is another created with an image from Deedee's Digis. I'm a real sucker for lady bugs and I just love this image!



Card base is Old Olive, dp is some digi from pcCrafters and the ribbon is Kiwi Kiss from SU. The coloring was done with a combination of SU markers and re-inkers with an aqua-painter. I had not tried this watercolor technique before, but it's just as easy as using the watercolor crayons and you get nice bright colors too! The sun wasn't really cooperating this morning, but this card really is very bright and sunny irl. I'm thinking I need to build myself a light box - maybe a weekend project!

This weekend I'm also going to try to get my card stock situation under control. I found a nice 4 drawer file cabinet and just have to figure out where to put it! The stamps are almost organized enough now to start to catalog them by shelf too. Busy, busy, busy. Hey - it helps keep my mind off the fact that I'm flying solo for the next three or four months!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

New Release Tuesday at Catch the Bug

It's Tuesday - that must mean fun, new digi images at Catch the Bug. Here's my card with one of today's new releases:


Once again I colored her sweatsuit with a pattern in my graphics program and printed out a sheet of the same pattern to use as dp on the card. Card base is Garden Green and the accent color is Pacific Point. I used green and blue brads too! This card is also for the EONAC17 challenge - Brads Galore!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Monday Night Stamping

Tonight I was joined by my bff Sabrina and my wonderful daughter-in-law Lorena. We had a fantastic time creating together! Here's some of what we made:

Sabrina:

Lorena

Lorena hard at work

Sabrina

Me

The gals made cards with some of my spare make and take kits too, but I didn't get any pictures of them. The images on their cards are from Bugaboo and the seed packet wheel and lady bug wheel are retired SU. All paper on all cards is from SU. My cards were made with images from a new digi company called Deedee's Digis. Look for her to make a splash with her images!

Excuse the poor picture quality but I needed to capture these cards before they went out the door!

I'm tired and missing dh something fierce so I'm going to head to bed and get some sleep!

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.

Kaboodle Doodles Challenge #31

There's a new challenge on the Kaboodle Doodles Challenge Blog this week - make a monochromatic card. I was playing around with this and made two cards:



I featured the purple on the Kaboodle blog, but I really like the yellow one two. Which is your favorite?

Be sure to hop over and play along - the prize is SEVEN digital images from Bugaboo Stamps - really dynamite prize don't you think?

Thanks for visiting!

~chris

Design Team Member
Sentimental Sundays
Catch the Bug
Kaboodle Doodles

If you have any questions about techniques or materials used in the work displayed on this blog, feel free to use the email link on the left and I will gladly answer your questions.