MyGrafico Wednesday - Another Farewell

Good Morning! Yep, this is another farewell post. My term with the MyGrafico Challenge blog comes to end with this posting and I must say, it has certainly been a pleasure. To have worked with Martha and the team has been inspiring and so much fun.

Here's the sketch portion of this week's challenge. We're using the adorable set Vroom! - way cute. Please be sure to visit the blog for the sketch details because my card is a very loose interpretation of it.


Mary created a wonderful sketch and it was a challenge to make it work with a train. I think I created a very cute little boy's birthday card. The image is from the set Zoom Vroom set by Cocoa Studio. I printed it twice just so I could pop the last car up from the card. I added the Happy Birthday right under the car when I printed it. Then I used a much neglected Cricut to create the Birthday Boy sentiment.

I hope you join us this week and don't forget to head on over to the challenge blog to join in the fun and leave the DT some love. As I said, it's been a pleasure. Thanks for stopping by.

15 Days of Christmas Cards - Day 14

Good Morning! Welcome to day 14, which is also Thursdays with Lindsay and it's also the MyGrafico Challenge blog posting. Whew!!

First off, let me mention that Lindsay is having a buy 2 get 1 free sale at her Shop Handmade Store. When you make your purchase of the two sets, Lindsay will email them to you and get your order for your free set. Pretty easy, eh?

I created a really easy Christmas card by using the Cutttlebug Christmas Tree folder as the main image, but leaving it white and enhancing with Teal pearls. The circle image, the dove is from Lindsay's Christmas Cupcake Wrappers set. I played around in PSE to change the color. I'm sure I didn't do it per any tutorial, but I managed to change the outer dots to a berry color and in the inner dots to a teal color. This card is using the current color challenge from The Color Dare Challenge, which is to use Razzleberry, Taken with Teal and Kraft. I don't have Razzleberry ink but I was able to color match it pretty close for the dots and the ribbon. The card has a base of white and the mats are Kraft and Taken with Teal.

This week MyGrafico Challenge Blog decided to use the recipe set from Lindsays Stamp Stuff and that was fun since I am on both design teams. So I set out to create my friend a recipe box. I took an instant coffee can and covered it with this really fun paper. Her kitchen is sort of multi-colored fiesta hues, so I thought this purple and orange would fit right in. I printed the circle sentiment twice so that I could pop-dot the heart in the center to give it a little dimension.


Then I proceeded to make the cards. Yes, they are folders. I did this by importing the recipe card image into a word document twice and flipping one of the images upside down. Then I butted the images up against one another and cut them out. Using a circle punch I notched out the bottom end which removed the the tab. Some I typed the recipes onto the cards first and then printed them out. Some, I just printed with the lines on them so that my friend can add her own recipes. I'm still not done with the box, there are several other recipes that she requested of me, so I need to get busy typing.

I hope you enjoyed my Christmas card and recipe box. Please be sure to visit Lindsay and the rest of team to see what they have to share with you. And don't forget the challenge at MyGrafico, you could win the entire recipe set.

See you tomorrow for the last day of my Christmas Cards Series.

MyGrafico Wednesday

Hi! Today is Wednesday and you know what that means, right? It's the sketch portion of the weekly challenge over at MyGrafico Challenge Blog! Be sure to click on over to the blog so you get all the details and see what wonderful cards the Design Team made to share.


The image is from the Tutti Fruitti stamp set. Once again we're recycling a sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches and Monday's challenge was to add gingham. Here's the sketch:

Have fun with this - I can't wait to see what you make with it! Good luck!

MyGrafico Challenge Wednesday

Good Morning! It's so quiet this morning. My children are sleeping in so I'm enjoying my coffee and the silence.

Today is the sketch installment of the MyGrafico Challenge blog. Be sure to visit the blog for all the details. We're still using Dotti Stamps and a recycled sketch from my Tuesday Morning Sketches blog.

Remember this one? I love this sketch... but I didn't follow it very closely. I decided to not do the scallops on the side, I flipped the order on the side panel and the 3 elements on the top I brought down into the image.


So here's my card. I colored the image with Copics and the sentiment is from the Winter Kit from All That Scraps. I also incorporated the P.I.E. challenge, rather basic, but it's there.

P - Patterned Paper
I - Image
E - Eyelets

I hope you join us in the fun this week! Thanks for stopping by.

MyGrafico Challenge Wednesday

Good Morning! I hope you all are having a great week so far.

This is the sketch addition to this week's MyGrafico Challenge Blog challenge and boy this was is a challenge. We are using the adorable set by Dilek Design Studio and the challenge is color combo... Pink, Green and Orange. Yowza! And now we're throwing in a sketch!


Mary made us a great sketch to follow! So here's my take on the card. I found it sort of hard to put these colors together - but it was rather fun and the card certainly came out really cheery. I hope you join us this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

MyGrafico Challenge Wednesday

Hi there! Quick post today - the kids are home from school. Happy Veterans Day!

Go check out the MyGrafico Challenge blog for all the fun details and to see the prize in full - this is a really cute digi-stamp set! Monday's challenge was to add stitching. But now we've got an awesome sketch from Marvelous Mary. Here's the sketch:


And here's my card:

I'm not sure if you remember me saying the other day about Hollyanne's Friday Feature that she reminded me of a stamp set I have... well in the set are these great stitching stamps. How easy can this be?! This sock monkey is too cute and I really stepped outside my comfort zone and put this bold red with these cooler shades of blue. So not like me and I so like the results. I hope you do, too. Give it a try and be sure to link up so we can see.

Oh! And there's only a few more days left to apply for the design team. It's been a pleasure and so much fun to have been on this team. You will love it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Digi-Scrapbooking Day!

Hi all - quick post today to tell you that today is Digi-Scrapbooking Day and to celebrate MyGrafico is having a 25% off sale! All your favorites... Dilek... Mujka... ReviDevi and Lindsay's Stamp Stuff - just to name a few. Go on over and stock up! I saw some really cute Christmas sets I want in my collection!

OK - might be back later with another post if I can get into my craft room today.

Hugs, Mel

MyGrafico Challenge Wednesday

Good Morning! Did you check in with the MyGrafico Challenge blog on Monday? The challenge this week is to use Purple, Cerise and Gold. And now that it's Wednesday - we have a sketch thrown into the mix. It's a great sketch by Mary, our Team B Coordinator.

Here's my card...


I had a rather difficult time photographing this card. Didn't matter what lighting I had, the colors didn't come out quite right. In one sort of lighting, the Elegant Eggplant looked dark brown. And I chose a long card, which is challenging anyway. But I couldn't believe how lucky I was to find this awesome scrapbook kit with the perfect colors.

I can't wait to see what you make for this challenge. Thanks for stopping by.

Thursday's with Lindsay

Good Morning! I am so excited about Lindsay's new stamp set! It's so wonderful. It's called Doodle Flowers and it's available here at Lindsay's Shop Handmade Store.

I decided this flower was screaming to be paper pieced. I had so much fun putting this together.

It comes with this really fun circle sentiment. I used it in .png format so that I could layer the flower inside the sentiment and then printed the base and cut it out using a circle cutter. Then I deleted the sentiment from my word document and printed the flower on 3 different papers, cut the pieces out and glued to the base. (I have a tutorial on digi-stamp paper piecing here.) Instead of another piece of paper for the button (which does print out on the flower) I opted for a real button for more added dimension.

And yes of course, I followed a few challenges.

• The sketch I got from iheart2stamp. I did flip it a little.
• Crazy4Challenges said to use geometric shapes, so my card contains circles, rectangles and little triangles.
• Just Us Girls said to add a 3D flower. I failed at the attempt to make the pretty tissue paper flower that they have featured, so I used a couple of primas layered and pop-dotted.

I also want to share my final Halloween project. This is what I made for the Halloween Costume Party I am having on my Tuesday Morning Sketches challenge blog and since I featured Lindsay's images, it's perfect to share today!


Thank you for stopping by today! Please be sure to visit Lindsay and the rest of the team. And if you haven't heard, Lindsay has an open Design Team call for Designers and Guest Designers. It's a really fun team to be on and I'm very thankful to work with some very amazing and wonderfully talented people!

Oh - one more thing! Starting today, Halloween sets are on sale at MyGrafico. 30% off!! So if you haven't scored Lindsay's crows or other Halloween images you can do that, too!!

Have a great day!

MyGrafico Challenge Wednesday

Welcome to the 2nd installment of this week's challenge over at the MyGrafico Challenge Blog. The challenge is to create a Thank You card with dry embossing, but today we add a sketch to it. Be sure to head on over to the challenge blog for the sketch and LOTS of inspiration! Here is my card...


I love this set by Mujka and you can find it here at the MyGrafico store. It's a Mix and Match Stems set and I think the silhouette images are stunning! There are line flower images and you'll see that Team A did a fabulous job with them!! Wow - they are awesome!

I hope you join us - I look forward to seeing what you create!

MyGrafico Challenge Wednesday

Good morning! I hope you're all well and having a great week so far.

This is the 2nd part of the MyGrafico Challenge blog challenge. This week's set that is up for grabs is a fun vintage appliance set. Today's edition throws in a sketch to play along with the color challenge of red, turquoise and polka dots. And in my world, polka dots are color. Have fun!

My images ended up being larger than I had planned but this was a fun and super easy card to put together. I the percolator pot reminds me of my Grandpa. I created the sentiment with a very fun font called Good Dog (dafont.com) and when I got this together my adorable black ribbon with white polka dots couldn't be seen. So with my trusty white gel pen I added dots everywhere else!

I hope you join us with the challenge this week and every week! If you haven't visited the MyGrafico store lately, you really should - we have some great new artists and super deals!

Enjoy your day!

Wednesday Edition of the MyGrafico Challenge

Good Morning! How are you today? Thanks for stopping by. I have a fun project to share with you today. This is for the Wednesday Edition of the MyGrafico Challenge Blog challenge which is to create holiday tags. And there's a way fun tags set up for the prize.

I created a sketch for this challenge, but the idea of the candy holder I found on You Tube, a Hero Arts video that you can see here. All the cut work isn't all that hard, just takes a little bit of time. Oh and actually the little bat is really a bee, I just did a little work with coloring with a fine tip black marker. So here's the sketch... I hope you play along.

Breast Cancer Awareness

Good Morning! Just a real quick post today. It's Wednesday and I'm on Team B for the MyGrafico Challenge Blog. Team A posts on Mondays with a Color/Recipe Challenge and Team B posts on Wednesdays with a sketch challenge. You all know that I am particularly fond of sketches! And this gives you double the chances to win a fabulous MyGrafico stamp set.

This is the sketch and I am super excited that I got to draw the sketch...

Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and this month hits very close to home anyway since my sister was diagnosed with it 2 years ago and if you read my post yesterday, then you know we're celebrating her being cancer free!!

Now this Breast Cancer Awareness stamp set is available in two formats - Clip Art or Stamps. I decided to use Clip Art so that you can see how quick and easy you can put a card together with no coloring involved. This is for those who need something last minute.

My final on this card ended up being a little bigger than I'd planned so I had to omit the embellishments on the side - but that's the great part about sketches - they are jumping off points.

Be sure to visit the rest of the team - start at the MyGrafico Challenge blog for all the details and then go visiting for tons of inspiration! Can't wait to see what you create! I'd also like to challenge you a bit further. Send your card to a special woman in your life. Your mom, sister, aunt, daughter, cousin, friend. Thanks for stopping by.

World Card Making Day - Part 2

Hi! Thanks for coming back. I hope you're partying over at PaperCraft Planet. I created this sketch for a special challenge for MyGrafico. Have fun and good luck!

This is a really easy sketch and a very quick card to put together.


Here is my card that I created with the sketch. Its funny to me that I can draw a sketch and convert it to a .jpg image and then create my card right after that - and I still alter the sketch. My scallop element isn't showing as much as I originally intended. This is such a great image from the Best Friends Stickie Stamp set. Did you notice the sale? MyGrafico has a 40% off sale after 7pm until Midnight (EST) - what a great shopping coupon! So what are you waiting for. Click here and have fun shopping. The winner of the challenge will be announced Monday morning, be sure to post your entry on the MyGrafico page on PCP.

Tuesday Morning Sketches

Good Morning! I am so happy that today I get combine forces with another challenge blog that I am privileged to be on the design team. Today MyGrafico Challenge Blog and Tuesday Morning Sketches will use the sketch posted on TMS with MyGrafico as the sponsor.


So here's my card. The image is actually a freebie at MyGrafico and it's just awesome. I love the simplicity and elegance to this image. I used a couple of decorative papers from a mat stack that I've had for a long time. I love black and white - again simplicity and elegance. Then I added a white panel that I embossed with the paisley CB embossing folder and black twill ribbon. I matted the focal image onto a piece of light blue cardstock just to set the image off just a bit. The sentiment is computer generated.

Now it's your turn. Here's the sketch:


Now for the fun. You have a chance to win on both blogs! I've been given an adorable set to award the winner on the TMS blog but Martha also has a super cute set to give a winner over there. So when you link up, be sure to link up in both places.

Have fun! I can't wait to see what you do with the sketch.

MyGrafico Monday Challenge

Good Morning! Happy Monday to you! I hope that you're week is off to a great start. Mine will be a little busy with Brendan's Orthodontist appointment this morning and then Levi goes back to the Orthopedist on Thursday. I'm also hoping for a job interview in there, too. I applied for a part-time position that I think would work well for me. Cross your fingers.

Today is Monday and that means another great challenge from the MyGrafico Challenge Blog. Be sure to click on the link for all the details. This week's theme is Retirement. Seems I've enjoyed a bit of that these past couple of months. LOL


This is the set you can win, but you have to try. Of course it would be very nice if you used MyGrafico images but you're not required to.


I perched my flamingo in the sand and even my kids said it was wrong, that she should be floating in water. Well, I was trying to be cute about a martini best served dry-docked and I didn't do very well with it. So now she's just dry-docked and still having the time of her life! I colored her with prismacolor markers and did use Diamond Glaze on the duck. The camera didn't pick that up very well - of course it's probably the photographer but...

I hope that you join us! Be sure to visit the rest of the design team for some other great cards! I saw one with this same image that is ADORABLE!! Thanks for stopping by.

MyGrafico Challenge Monday

Good Morning,

This has to be a super quick post because Levi is to get his cast today, so we'll be off to the Orthopedic Specialist later this morning.

Today is the day where I share with you what I made for the MyGrafico Challenge blog. It's really beginning to feel like Fall here. The last few days have been overcast and drizzly but yesterday was really gorgeous but windy. I'm worried what that wind might blow in. Haha!

The MyGrafico challenge this week is all about Fall and it's a recipe challenge. 1-digi, 2 designer papers and 3 embellishments. I used an image from this set you can find here. I hope that you join us! Be sure to visit the the MyGrafico Challenge Blog for all the details. Oh! And you might want to keep tabs on the blog because some changes are coming that you are going to LOVE! Also, visit the design team's blogs to see all the lovely creations they have to share with you. They are all linked in my sidebar.

1-Digi: This is from the Autumn Elements stamp set (linked above). The sentiment is from CC Designs Autumn Kit. Love it! I punched out some leaves and attached with a brad and then added some ribbon around the first piece of decorative paper that I did a haphazard fan fold and attached with staples (3 embellishments).

This is the inside view where I featured the other piece of decorative paper along with a wonderful quote from President John F. Kennedy.

Thanks for stopping by. I'll see you tomorrow!

MyGrafico Challenge Monday

Good Morning - Happy Labor Day!! I hope you're enjoying your nice long weekend.

Did you have fun last week with the week of prizes at MyGrafico? I know Martha and the design team had a blast with the blog hop! We are back to our weekly challenges and we have 2 new design team members!

So this week's challenge is Back to School. We used an adorable stamp set that can be found here. When I made this card my kids exclaimed "Madeline!!" and that is what she reminds me of, too.


I used a black base for my card. My sister is a 2nd grade teacher so she can get all these really neat school items that are great for cards, she sent me these self-adhesive library pockets and cards. That provided a cool embellishment and sentiment for my card. I tried to write the sentiment like Kristina Werner does - she does a way better job than I did! The alphabet background paper is actually another digi that I got from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff. This card will be going to another special little girl I know that started Kindergarten.

Be sure to visit the MyGrafico Challenge blog for all the details of the challenge. Then sit back and relax while you visit the other design team member's blogs to see what adorable projects they have for you. I've seen some and you're in for a treat! As always, they are linked in my sidebar.

As for Sunshine Mondays, Janice and the design team are taking a little break while we gear up for the new release that's coming soon. Stay tuned for that!!

Thanks for stopping by.

Back to School

Good Morning,

I think most kids are back in the full swing of school, but I know a special little girl that is heading off to kindergarten very soon. I made this card to participate in some challenges but with her in mind.


The challenges that I did are:

1) The Digi Shack has a recipe challenge going on 1 ribbon, 2 decorative papers and 3 brads. The black ribbon with white polka dots is from a recent trip to the ribbon outlet. The decorative papers are from a matstack I just got at AC Moore for 40% off - DCVW Citrus matstack. The 3 little apples are brads that I made. I couldn't find a digi from the TDS collection for the Back to School theme, so I used an image by one of their Senior Design Team members. Hope that's OK.

Edit: I can't believe I forgot to credit the image - it's from the Dream Big series, called Apple. You can find her here and all the other adorable images from Inktegrity. Joni, next time I goof like this, smack me!

2) Cute Card Thursday's challenge is Back to School.

3) Truly Scrumptious gave us this truly awesome sketch to play with.

A little on how I did it: I colored the image with prismacolor pencils and OMS. The stamped the little apples using an image from PTI's Limitless Labels set, then used it to make my brad. I covered the big apple and the little apples with Diamond Glaze to give them shine. The sentiment is computer generated and let me give you a tip on how to print directly onto your decorative paper.

In your word program type out your sentiment in a text box and then visualize where you want that to be printed on your paper. Move your text box to that spot. You may have to play with this a bit to get it according to your liking. Print it out on a piece of plain paper. Once you're happy with where you want it, adhere your [my case 4x6] paper to the piece of plain paper with repositional adhesive (I used Dotto) over the print you made on the plain paper. Make sure you adhere well so that it doesn't shift. Place back into your printer and print again. Pull your dp off of the plain paper and voila! you have a digi stamp placed right onto your decorative paper just as if you used a rubber stamp and ink.

Hope you enjoy the card. And today's the last day to get in on the give-aways at MyGrafico Challenge blog, so don't miss out and then we'll be back on Monday with another challenge! It's so good to be back.

Thursdays with Lindsay

Good Morning!

Welcome to another edition of Thursdays with Lindsay - I do so enjoy this day! Every time I write that phrase it makes me think Breakfast at Tiffany's. I don't even think I've seen that whole movie. Anyway, it also means there's a free digi to find! Happy blog-hunting. And don't forget the special, spend $5, get a digi-stamp for free.

I am participating in Digital Tuesday's challenge. The challenge this week is to use pearls and lace. This card so did not not start out the way it ended, but I am happy with the results and I can't even tell you what I started to do. I love the way cards seem to evolve themselves.

First I used the Elegant Card Kit (b/w) by printing it out on pink card stock. There are two Elegant Card Kits available, one that is black and white and the other is black and ivory. Why I like these options is because the black and white version allows you to be versatile in card stock color choices, but the black and ivory version takes all the thinking out for you just in case you're in a hurry and don't want to think about color choices.

I then printed the new Cosmos digi-stamp and colored it with a combination of Koh-i-noor and Prismacolor pencils and OMS. Then cut into an oval shape. The kit comes with 3 backgrounds, so I used the scroll one and then under the flower image I cut a bit larger oval from the filigree background image and then finally matted on black card stock.

I finished the front of the card by adding bits of lace flower trim to the oval focal image and pearls to the swirls on the background image.

On the inside of the card, I printed a Scripture verse (Ecc 3:11) that I originally intended to go on the front, it didn't work out that way. So I cut the card stock to fit the verse to the inside of the card and finished it off with strips of the filigree background and a bit of the lace trim.

I hope you like my card. Don't forget to visit Lindsay and the rest of the design team (linked in the sidebar), leave them some love and find the free-digi! Thanks for stopping by.



Be sure to check out the MyGrafico Challenge blog for another great give-away today!