MyGrafico Blog Hop

(please scroll down for Sunshine Monday)

I am so excited that MyGrafico is up and running again and we are getting back into the swing of the weekly challenges! So to celebrate the Design Team is having a party!! Here are all of the details - you won't want to miss a thing.
Today is our first Design Team blog hop. So, if you arrived here from Cassie's blog, you're on the right track. If not, you need to go to Martha's blog. Then follow the hop and be on the look-out for a letter to be highlighted on each blog you hop to! You want to leave a comment on each blog along the way for a chance to win an image from the Candy Shoppe set (see below) AND you want to collect the letters to create a phrase. Once you know what the phrase is, you want to email your guess to mccreations@ymail.com by 10:00 pm (PST) tonight and you might just be the winner of the entire set!

Here's my card for this week's kick-off celebration!



The challenge is to use a sweet image (MyGrafico, preferred) and the colors red, pink and green. I created this card by printing the image in two different sizes onto Neenah white card stock and colored with Prismacolor markers. Then I took a heart shaped doily and folded it so that it appeared to be a fancy fold napkin. The smaller strawberry is adhered with pop-dots. Then I added a ribbon and a sentiment created from the Unity June KOM. My base is Pink Pirouette, but I think I got my lighting a bit strong and it washed that color out.

I will be giving away this yummy chocolate strawberry image to a person chosen randomly from everyone who leaves me a comment on this post today. I'll email the winner on Tuesday. OK, so keep collecting letters to create a phrase and email to the address above by 10:00 pm PST TONIGHT to win this entire set:

Your next stop on the hop is Mary so be sure to see what Candy Shoppe confection she has for you!

There will be more prizes all week long so you want to visit the MyGrafico Challenge blog every day for chances to win:

TUESDAY: sign up at the challenge blog to become a Follower and you could win Superheroes

WEDNESDAY: YOU create a sweet card, you might just win Back to School.

THURSDAY: Leave a comment at the Challenge blog and you might win Halloween Ghoulies

FRIDAY: Last but not least, everyone who has joined the Followers list or left a comment at the Challenge blog has a chance to win the Trick or Treat set

All kinds of fun planned so be sure to check back often! I will post reminders through out the week of each day's activities so you have lots of chances to win!

Thanks for stopping - now HOP along!

Sunshine Monday

Good Morning! Thanks for scrolling down to join me for Sunshine Monday. I have a super easy card to share with you. I love this technique - I'm sure you're all familiar with spotlighting. I think this is a great encouragement card for your beloved basketball player.

With this technique, there is hardly any coloring involved - only what you want to stand out. It's really lovely with scenery type stamps, too. Please check out what Janice and the rest of the design team made to share with you, as always, they're linked in my sidebar. And be sure to go shopping at Sunshine & Giggles. Janice needs to sell the current stamps to make room for the releases coming soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

My first Magnolia

Hi All! I hope your Saturday is full of fun and relaxation. Mine will be a busy one. I have lots and lots of stamping to get done, but more on that later.

Some time back I had participated in a Magnolia card kit swap. I received back some WONDERFUL kits. I've looked at them, drooled over the great papers and then put them in a box. I finally pulled one out and played with it last night and I'm pretty happy with the results. I decided to play along with the Just Magnolia challenge. The challenge is simple... a Magnolia image, ribbons and bows. Well, you all know that I have ribbon! So I thought, no kiddos tonight... good time to try this out.

As I started making this card the less I needed ribbon and bows - so this card barely makes the challenge. The bow in her hair is made of ribbon. I think there needs to be a little going on on the top, but I couldn't make a ribbon work it. If I went too high on the card, she'd be coming off the top. So I decided I better stop.

I love all the purples and I really love the ribbon leaves, that is really cool. I've got to get in touch with the person who made this kit - I need more of that. I'm visualizing some great scrapbook pages with it.

I hope you like my card. Thanks for sharing a bit of your Saturday with me. Enjoy your weekend.

Oh! I almost forgot. Why do I have lots of stamping to do? Well, I have exciting news for you!! The MyGrafico site is finally back up so to celebrate we're having a blog hop on Monday and the celebration won't stop there, there will be give-aways all week long. So be sure to stop here on Monday or the MyGrafico Challenge blog for all the details!!

How Sweet...

Hi there! Happy Friday. I know I am SOOO late, but it was a busy morning. I had my friend's two little ones here and let me tell you, I had forgotten how toddlers keep you on your toes. What fun!

The card I have to share with you today is one I made to participate in a couple of challenges.


The first challenge is DU2D Friday. It's a recipe challenge - 1 ribbon, 2 decorative papers and 3 flowers. The digi-image is Ice Cream Kiki from the new Miss Kiki La Rue collection from CC Designs. I colored her with Copics and Prismascolor pencils. I ribbon is dark blue with white polka dots, the decorative paper is from a mat stack from K&Company and the 3 little flowers are Primas.

The other challenge I'm participating in is Friday Sketchers. This is such a fabulous sketch and so versatile. There was an optional challenge to use orange and blue. The card stock in the background is Apricot Appeal, and apricot is orange lightened with cream. The ribbon is dark blue and Kiki's dress is a very pretty shade of blue.

As for Hollyanne's Friday Feature - with school starting back up this week, she's been a bit preoccupied. I'll get her in the stamp room this weekend. I know you miss seeing my daughter's creations.

Have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for visiting with me today.

Thursdays with Lindsay

Hi all - hope you're doing well today. It's nearly the weekend already.

I have been trying to play with this image from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff for awhile now. I still don't think I've done it the justice is deserves, but it's such a great image! This is Carousel Horse and the image is only $1 - spend just $4 more and get a stamp free!! Speaking of free, one of the DT members has a brand new stamp to give you, but you have to visit all the team member's blogs to find it.


I participated in a challenge, too, with this card. The blog is The Color Dare and the colors this week are Bashful Blue, More Mustard and Chocolate Chip. Beautiful combination.

I hope you like card. Have fun searching out the freebie digi stamp. Thanks for visiting me today.

Happy Halloween!

Hello! LOL - no I'm not off my rocker, I am very well aware of the calendar. Today is back to school for my kids. Perhaps even yours - I wish them well and a happy first day back.

So why am I into Halloween? Well, I have another monthly card to share with you that I got done early because the kit was sent early by mistake. This was fun to make! I've been watching You Tube lately - that is my TV anymore. Love the videos by Dawn Griffith and Hero Arts and Make a Card Monday... what fun and great ideas. So after getting a card from Joni that does this and watching a video on how to do it - I tried it myself. It's a spinner card and as my youngest son said, these cards are actually worth something since their are two pennies involved.


This is the image and paper that was sent by the hostess of the month. I colored him with Prismacolor markers and cut into a simple circle. I backed the paper (lightweight paper) to cardstock because it has to stand up to a penny rolling on it. I embossed the top with a dots border folder (Cuttlebug) and added a bit of ribbon. Now begin to tip the card...


... and starts to spin along the track that is made with the word window punch. Tip it more...

... and he spins all the way to the end. Then tip back again. What a fun card!!

I hope you enjoyed this card - it was such blast to make and pretty easy, too. Thanks for visiting me today. Now I have to go find something else to do. Job hunting, I guess.

Clean and Simple

Hi there! I have a late post for you because I was waiting around to see what fabulous challenges were being issued today.

I'm playing along with The Pink Elephant and Digital Tuesday with my clean and simple card. What do you think?


I used Kraft cardstock as my base, Old Olive for the mats and Neenah white cardstock for the image and the sentiment. The frog image is from The Greeting Farm, Down by the Pond stamp set and the sentiment is this week's free digi from The Digi-Shack.

The challenges:

The Pink Elephant - this awesome sketch!
Digital Tuesday - make it hoppy.

I hope you enjoy my card and I'm sending this one to my former boss, she LOVES frogs. Well, hoppy Tuesday!




PS - Don't forget to check out my challenge on Tuesday Morning Sketches.

Don't adjust your TV set...

Good Morning, Happy Monday!

Today and tomorrow are the final days of summer break. The kids head back to school on Wednesday and I'll be climbing the walls by Wednesday afternoon. Please pray that I get a job soon. Anyway, my oldest son goes into high school this year. ACK! So not ready for that one. It was just yesterday he was talking about "Andy Griffith, you know, the gray one." His description of black and white television. Well, today's card is a tribute to "the gray one" so no need to adjust your monitors.

I'm actually playing along with The Digi Shack's challenge. It's an inspiration challenge using one of the handbags found here for inspiration. The Kharlie Bug bags are another business venture of Toni's and they are fantastic! My favorite is the Gabby Bag - Amy, but the not bag I used to inspire this card.



Isn't he funny! This was one of Toni's free images and I've had him printed for awhile, so I needed to do something with the image. I thought about all the times of having the children here during summer break and the arguments that would get started that were really birthed out of boredom. I felt this little monster or two. So in honor of Back to School, I made a mommy recess card. I created the background paper on the computer as well as the sentiment. I colored the image with Prismacolor markers.


And this is the makeup bag that inspired the design.

Thanks for visiting me today. I promise I'll be back on my normal Monday's soon. Soon MyGrafico will be back up and running and Sunshine Mondays will be back, too.

Meet Kiki La Rue

Hi Everyone! Happy Saturday! Hope your weekend is off to a great start. I'm looking forward to today - I'm on my own for awhile. Hubby and oldest son are off to a TaeKwon Do seminar all day and the younger kids are with my Mom and off to see G-Force. I'm doing the happy dance, I've got some me time.

OK - so I mentioned yesterday that Christine at All The Scraps has released 3 new stamps called Kiki La Rue. They are so adorable! So I decided to play with their sketch challenge again with Coffee Kiki La Rue. I love all of Christine's designs, my favorite stamps are her Pixies - but Kiki has stolen my heart. It's one of my dreams to be on ATS' design team, but at least on my blog, I can pretend I am! LOL

The paper is one that I bought from All That Scraps quite some time ago. The blue is from a Recollections card stock pack called Cape Cod. The coffee cups were from a free digi-download from A Cherry on Top and the sentiment is from Scrappy Cat Sunny Days set. I colored with Copics and Prismacolor markers.

I hope you enjoy my card! OK - I'm off for a little shopping (Michael's gift card) and Starbucks ('nother gift card) and then I'll go get my kiddos. Have a great day!

Happy Friday!

Good Morning!

Hollyanne isn't quite finished with her card yet, so I'm going to post what I made to participate in All That Scraps weekly challenge. It's a sketch challenge - I love great sketches! This one I tweaked a little bit. I flipped it and brought the flowers closer together.



You can see the sketch that was posted here. But I love the softness to this card - the paper is from Making Memories that I picked up at Michaels. The image is Pixie's Heidi. I don't have a favorite Pixie, I love them all. I colored her with Copics and Prismacolor markers. The sentiment is from Unity Stamps, Bevy of Butterflies. The picture lost the glittery effect in her wings, I used a Spica Glitter pen. I colored in the meadow and the sky and then used a tiny flower stamp from PTI's Ovals Borders and Corners set to stamp in the wildflowers.

And I am sooo excited that Christine has released her new Kiki La Rue stamps. Today is Christine's birthday, so stop by and wish her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY and purchase either stamps or digi-stamps at a special birthday price. I'm anxiously awaiting my email with my digi-stamps!!

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy your weekend.

Thursday's with Lindsay

Good Morning! For being up since 5:15 this morning, I'm running very far behind.

I love when I can combine my design team work for Lindsay's Stamp Stuff with other challenges - it makes the card that much more fun to create! I love this new image from Lindsay, I've always had a fondness for cattails. I think they're so cool looking! And, of course, I had to play with the other new dragonfly that she released last week.


This cattails design can be found in her shop. So can the dragonfly. OK - now this is what is so cool about high quality digi-stamps. They can be resized to suit your needs. See how tiny I made these dragonflies.

The challenges that I participated in are: the sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday, Digital Tuesday - a man card (this card is pretty masculine) and Color Throwdown which is to use the new Stampin' Up! In Color colors Dusty Durango, Bermuda Bay and Soft Suede. Well, I don't have those colors so I chose what I thought was closest to these colors: Close to Cocoa, Really Rust and Taken with Teal.

Don't forget to check out the team members blogs - someone has the freebie!

Thank you for stopping by.

Monthly Cards

Good Morning,

Just a quick post this morning because I've got to get the kids up and moving and discover how time-bake works on my oven. We're spending the day with friends - lunch at their house and then the rest of it at the little waterpark in the area.

So you know that I belong (have hosted) to monthly card groups. I love this kind of swap. It's challenging and I get a whole set of cards that match but are different. This particular challenge was from my sister, she and I are in the same group. She sent paper and images and the challenge was to use both sides of the paper. Well, I couldn't go simple, now could I? I'm such a glutton for punishment. This is the card that I came up with and can't finish because I had to order more paper. Yep, she sent enough to make a NORMAL card, but I couldn't go normal.

Here's the front:

Gorgeous paper! I love this - it's by Little Yellow Bicycle and I was so excited when I finally found it on A Cherry On Top, I paged through 70+ pages to find it. Then I recognized the name as one being on Christine's (All That Scraps) clearance list. So off to All That Scraps, typed the name in the search box and there it was! Hopefully the paper arrives today or tomorrow.


I know you've all seen this fold, it's very popular right now and Beate has a great video tutorial (scroll to the bottom) on SCS, too. I've been wanting to try it. I didn't get to use as much of the orange side as I had hoped, to - but I think it came out really pretty.

OK - off to read the owners manual on my oven. I hope you enjoyed my card. Thanks for visiting.

Sew Fishy

Good morning!

I have a card to share with you that I have to admit is pretty cute, but I don't like the technique. You know that I've talked about the twice monthly challenge group that I belong to - August 15th challenge was to make a tilt card following the tutorial found on Splitcoast. The image that is used in the tutorial is an hula dancer and the tilt part is her grass skirt. I don't own any stamps like that, so I used a fish. Here's the card:


Now it's pretty hard for me to show you the tilt part but the fish will move, sort of, fins down and back up. Cards with moving parts are very cool... if you really know what you're doing. I don't know what I'm doing, so I didn't like this technique. But minus the technique it's a really cute card. I found a free coloring page of a fish bowl that I printed and then I used the adorable fish from The Greeting Farm's Down by the Pond set. I am also participating in their challenge in hopes that I'll win the other 3 stamps (the newest ones) in the Wild Sprouts collection. The challenge for Farm Fresh Fridays is to include sewing, whether it's hand-sewn, machine-sewn or faux-sewn. I chose faux-stitching around the swirls. It reminds me of the quilting technique called Trapunto. I quoted Dorie from Pixar's Finding Nemo for my sentiment. It's such an encouraging statement.

I hope you like my card. Thanks for visiting today.

Feeling like Fall

Hi! Good morning! I hope you all had a super weekend!

I am late to participate in the challenge to win the new releases from The Digi Shack but I wanted to share my card anyway because I just love this image and the sketch was great fun.


The apple basket was a freebie recently that Toni offered. Did you know she gives a free digi every Monday? Pretty cool! But remember it's only for a week and then it goes into the store. At the time of this post she doesn't have one posted yet - I think she's still recuperating from the awesome blog hop she and her Design Team had over the weekend!

There are many other companies that offer free digi-stamps, too. Paper Makeup Stamps offers them every Friday, and I still have the freebie posted for Lindsay's Stamp Stuff until Wednesday and then Lindsay will have a new freebie on Thursday. And who doesn't like free?

Thanks for visiting me today!

Copics 101 - Flesh Tones

Hi all! I'm running late this morning but I am super glad of it because I was able to use the FABULOUS sketch from Friday Sketchers. I did flip their sketch and omitted the flowers because I think it would've thrown this card off balance.

This was the last lesson in the Copics class - flesh tones. This stamp is so beautiful! It's from Queen's Ink, which is where I took the class. The owner, Patty and her sister (or perhaps sister-in-law) design their own line of stamps. I'm not sure how to name these stamps, they're not what I call vintage - just very artsy, I guess.

This is my card. I am very proud of this card! It's so great when a card comes together so easily and this one did. I don't remember why I bought this paper, for a kit or something I guess, but it was perfect for this card. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, then look closely at the dp, the swirls actually look they're made from paint. The black strips on the top right I cut and then embossed with a border Cuttlebug folder. Then highlighted the embossing with Metallics Rub On paste, then added a tiny pearl to each strip.

Now this stamp made shading super easy! First off, you color the entire image with the lightest color that you've chosen for the skin tone. Then, as I said, this stamp made it so easy - where it's darker, that's where you color with a darker shade Copic marker. Then Jonesy has a favorite marker for lip color and I believe it's even called that, but I mixed that lip color with a wine color and blended them out. I love the effect! I then colored the eyes, although they stamp out a fairly solid black, with a dark brown marker (shhh, I used a Prismacolor marker for that because I didn't think to color the eyes while I was at the class - but as Joni says, our Copics and Prismas get along just fine).

I hope you've enjoyed sharing my class with me as much as I've enjoyed sharing it with you. Thanks for visiting me today and if you're in the Savage, MD area stop by Queen's Ink and say hello to Patty!

Thursdays with Lindsay

You found me! I have the freebie today! I am so excited, too. I don't generally like bugs at all, however there are a couple that I can watch flit and float about because they are so beautiful and graceful. Butterflies and Dragonflies are so pretty with their style, grace and colors. Have you ever noticed how fluorescent a dragonfly's wing are? So delicate just like fairy wings. When Lindsay asked me if I had anything in particular in mind that I'd like to have as "my" freebie my first thought was of a dragonfly. Lindsay not only made me one, but three! I only get to give one away, but don't forget that Lindsay has a perpetual sale. For every $5 that you spend, you get a free digi-stamp.

Enough talk. Here's my card...


My sister Karin introduced me to the glitter puzzle technique about 2 years ago. Very cool technique. So when I saw this image that Lindsay made at my request, I knew that either I was coloring so boldly to create a stained glass effect or I was doing glitter. Glitter won. I'm not a bold colorist. So I set about "coloring" this image with Stickles. I printed the image on card stock (in retrospect, I should've picked heavier weight card stock) and then flipped the image and printed onto a transparency. It doesn't line up perfectly, but it came close and added dimension. When the Stickles was thoroughly dry I added the loose glitter that I do have which is Martha Stewart coarse diamond glitter to the surrounding area of the dragonfly. Click on the picture to see if you get an enlarged version to see the detail.

Now, I should've either used thicker cardstock to withstand the moisture of the Stickles better, or used loose glitter because it warped a bit. I did try pressing it under some heavy books and it helped a bit, but it did not flatten. But I still like the effect - again, added dimension.



This is a side view of the card, here you can see how the transparency looks lying above the cardstock. You can also see a close-up of this cool silver, metallic ribbon I got on one of my ribbon buying trips. You can also see a little peek of the dragonfly border that Lindsay created.

Love the image? Get it free HERE. Enjoy!!

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to visit Lindsay and the rest of the Design Team to see what they created to share with you today. They are all linked up in my sidebar.

Copics 101 - Color Matching

Good Morning Everyone,

I'm running a bit late this morning, but my kids are happy, they got a stack of pancakes and some scrambled eggs for breakfast, we'll be doing our schooling shortly and then if the weather is cooperative, swimming this afternoon.

I have the next Copics lesson that I learned at that class. I used the sketch from Truly Scrumptious (great sketch) to play along in a challenge, too. This lesson is about the first digit on the Copics marker. If there's no room to do much blending with the Letter Characters on the markers, then go to the first number. All zeros, ones, twos, etc. work together.


I think this is such a fun image! I have no idea where it's from, but it's cute! Such a whimsical flower pot full of posies. I believe my choices were all ones, but I didn't write that all down. I would have if I'd known I was going to share my class like this. I figured I'd just make cards and post them. The pot, I did do the blending technique on. I think it came out great.

Here's a close up. I really need to have that purple in my collection of markers. The blue is pretty, too.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving such sweet comments. Have a wonderful Wednesday.

Copics 101 - Blending

Hi Everyone! As promised, I will be sharing with you what I learned this past weekend. Now, please don't have high expectations that I've become the world's best colorer after this class. I still have so much to learn and I need to practice, practice, practice.

The first lesson was blending. Jonesy, the instructor, said you pick three colors that are about 2 off from each other. So you get, for instance, B10, B12 and B14. Start with your lightest shade and color all over. This is the 1, 2, 3, 1 method of coloring. Then you lay down your next shade and then your next shade, then go back to your lightest color to blend, blend, blend.

Now I messed up a little. I can't remember exactly what colors I picked, the numbers were right, but two of the markers were R markers and the other marker I picked was YR or something like that. Anyway, I still got a very cool effect with it. So I colored all the petals with the lightest shade, then placed my darker shade at the base of the petals and the middle shade at the tips of the petals and used as little shading to create a bit of depth. Not too bad, eh?

Here is my finished card. Now I definitely accomplished country-esque in this card. Houndstooth, pinks and greens, polka dots and black gigham. Yep, that's pretty country. The card is sweet - I like it. I hope you do, too.

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your day!

Monday, Monday

I know - you're all singing the Mama's and the Papa's song. You just can't help it.

I had a fabulous Saturday! What a wonderful birthday. I went to a Copics class with my friend. That was a lot of fun, I learned a lot, too. I'll be posting what I made later in the week as I finish them and hopefully will be able to play along with some challenges. Anyway, after browsing this beautiful stamp store, my friend treated me to lunch which was quite yummy. After that we took our time getting home, which was pretty easy since this place we went to was an hour and a half away anyway. We stopped so she can buy her family some soft shelled crab. Anyway, then came back here to enjoy dinner with my family.

Sunday on the other hand wasn't so fun. I woke up will a horrible stomachache! I answered a couple of email and then went back to bed and didn't get up until Noon!

First off - its time for another MyGrafico challenge. This week's challenge is to get a bit prehistoric.

I love this brontosaurus - he is so adorable! He's from a great set that can be found here. I created the sun with a QuicKutz dies and I also made up my own sentiment. Be sure to visit the MyGrafico Challenge Blog for all the details and check out what the rest of the design team did.

Next up is my card for Sunshine & Giggles Sunshine Monday card.


Even though Wal-Mart, Target and every other known store imaginable says it's time for back-to-school, me and this boy are hanging on to summer!! I used a great sketch from Sweet Sketch Sunday. Yep, even feeling horrible I had to squeeze in a little stamping time.

I hope you enjoyed both my cards and I hope to see you join in the challenges! Thank you for stopping by, I always look so forward to your visit.

Friday Feature

Happy Friday!

I have three great cards to share with you today. Last night was so much fun, hubby was feeling a bit weather worn so he went to bed very early. That means me and the kids have to be super quiet for him, well we don't have to, but we do to respect him. So Hollyanne, Levi and I came downstairs and instead of popping in a movie we decided to work on cards. I needed to make one for my challenge group, Hollyanne needed her Friday Feature and Levi decided he wanted in on the action.

My good friend Joni recently started her own digi-stamp company called Inktegrity. Yesterday she had a grand re-opening introducing 5 new stamps in a collection called Dream Big that can be purchased here. You can purchase them individually or get all 5 for $3.99. Can't beat that!! Out on Limb is the image that Hollyanne and I played with.

This is Hollyanne's card. It's all her own design, right down to the sentiment. She wrote it, she decided on the font - I typed it. She used the Prismacolor Markers to color, she made her brother use the Stampin' Up! ones. LOL

Here is my card with the same adorable image. The challenge for the challenge group was to highlight the embossing using a Cuttlebug folder. I am not a huge fan of this technique, although I have seen some amazing work done with it. Mine is mediocre at best. I love the ladybug though. I punched out a heart and pop-dotted it, I cut a black scallop circle and added stitching with a white gel pen and then added some fun ribbon!

Now Levi had to do a guy card! We printed him the freebie pirate background that was offered by Dustin Pike and found a free pirate coloring page. Levi, with his demented sense of humor, decided the sentiment should say "welcome aboard, now walk the plank!" He giggled about this for a long time. Hollyanne bumped him and the mistake he'd made pleased him greatly. There is a splotch over to the right of the card beyond the ropes, near the cloud. It's not a splotch - it's a cannonball!!

I hope you enjoyed our cards and a brief moment into our family time last night. We had a great time and we hope we've inspired you or at the very least, put a smile on your face.

Have a wonderful weekend!!



Hollyanne & Levi, too!