Hogs and Kisses

For my 3 yr old granddaughter who loves everything pink, purple, and sparkly. And because I love puns.

The image is a From The Hear digi colored with SU blender pens. I used a star gel red glitter pen for the kiss wrapper. The paper is the new Painted With Love paper from SU.
 Tuesday Morning Sketches

And Tuesday Throwdown Anything Goes Challenge 

Sunset

I am still playing around with watercoloring. The thing I think I like about it, you can be kind of messy and still have a good product.
This one is inspired by my recent trip to the Gulf side of Florida.  It was really cold in Tampa and we only went to the beach once to watch sunset wearing 3 layers, including a hoodie, scarf, and gloves.
They even had a record cold night with 30 degrees. And of course the wind off the water made for a really cold wind chill.

I used watercolor paper. Some coloring is done with baby wipes, some with Aqua painter, and some with SU new Waterfront stamp set. The sentiment is an old one without a label.
The color challenge Just Us Girls.

Owl Love

When I saw that The Paper Players had a challenge of "punny valentines", I knew the owl stamp that I have had forever needed to come out.

The embossed hearts are with SU embossing folder. I colored the owls lightly with pencils and the hearts with a red star gel pen. And of course large owl eyes call for google eyes. It still needed a little something and I found a scrap that has a ruffle pattern to accent the bottom of the image. The sentiment is done on the computer.

I am also entering at Just Us Girls

and then Inspired By All The Little Things has this adorable assortment of animals to use for inspiration.  I picked out the owl.

Panda Hugs

When I see cute baby pandas, I just want to hug them.  And this one is so cute on a Valentine card to send hugs to a special kid.

This little guy from Mama Elephant is perching precariously on the hugs about to take off with that heart balloon. The DP is from SU's Sending Love Pack.
 Send A Smile 4 Kids challenge is Anything Goes with an option of using Valentine theme.

Panda Pile

One of my favorite zoo animals is the Panda. And I love those YouTube videos of baby pandas playing.  So when I found the Pandemonium stamp set from Mama Elephant I just HAD to have it.
I am having so much fun with it. It also come with dies for all of them. There is inspiration all over Pinterest for these cute critters.

The background strip is from my scraps. It is hard to see but is a green bokeh pattern. I did the sentiment on the computer.
Finally I am getting around to playing with the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches

Well it's sorta the sketch loosely interpreted.  

Celebrating

I have a friend having her last chemo treatment for breast cancer next week.  She is doing so well.
I wanted to make something special to celebrate with her.

The image and sentiment is a From The Heart digi colored with the new SU blenders. I layered it with a pink polka dot and a vellum with pink sparkles. More sparkle is added with pink rhinestones.

I am entering this at Tuesday Morning Sketches anything goes challenge. And Tuesday Throwdown also with challenge of anything goes.

Repurposed Stamps

It has been a busy week here so I am taking today as me time and spending it in the craft room.
There is a challenge to use Christmas stamps for a non Christmas card at TIME OUT Challenges
I think the trees from retired SU set Wonderland are just the thing. The just say serenity to me.

I have used Pool Party card base. Color washed Pool Party ink with an Aqua Painter over watercolor paper and then stamped the trees with Mossy Meadow and the SU sentiment in black.. It doesn't show in the picture but there is a dark green strip on the left side.
While all the supplies are out, why not make a two-for?

This one has a little deeper color because I dropped a dot of Pool Party re-inker into the stamp pad lid and again used the Aqua Painter.
Side note--did you know that typing re-inker without the dash self corrects to reindeer! hahaha Spell checker can be so frustrating but funny sometimes.  And card stock if typed as one word corrects to yardstick!
Also submitting to Anything Goes at Tuesday Morning Sketches.

Amended:  this is the banner from Time Out Challenge and I just realized I didn't pay too close attention to the theme of New Beginnings. I had my mind on Anything Goes and ended up with Endings, not Beginnings. OOPS. I al least used a Christmas Stamp.

Thinking of You

At this house, Christmas is decorated, cards sent, gifts sent, and just waiting for the day.
So time to restock the stash that has been neglected over the last month or two.
I make a lot of Thinking of You cards as they are so versatile for multiple occasions.

I bought a box of Paper Studio card bases for half price. They sure make for quick cards especially when combined with a great sketch from Freshly Made Sketches

The roses are dies from Ellen Hutson. Sentiment is an old one from SU stamped with Regal Rose. 

Winter Fun 4 Kids

Send A Smile 4 Kids current challenge is Winter Fun. Frankly, I don't find much fun in winter. I would rather be in a sunny beach climate.
But here in Indiana, we still have a lot of winter in February so my share for winter fun is a valentine.

It is hard to come up with valentine's for older boys. I like to do little puns for them. I did the "hay" sentiment on computer and die cut with a word bubble die from SU. The bale of hay is a stamp by La-La Land Crafts, stamped, colored and fussy cut. The hay paper is a scrap. I also did the "be my Valentine" on the computer. So simple I did 4 of them. Hopefully the boys will love it.
Here is another using some scraps of wood paper.

Heart Pirate

It is so long since I have been on the blog. Thanksgiving week I had my kids and grandkids here (what fun!) and entertained my in-laws (24 of them) for Thanksgiving dinner. Just when I was getting the house back to normal I caught a cold. Then had issues with care for my elderly mother.
So thankful things have settled down and I am back to crafting.
Don't hate me--but I have all my Christmas cards done and mailed.  Result of stuck in the house for 3 days.
I am doing some Valentine's for Send A Smile 4 Kids. Always have to be early with them so they can be sent out in time to get to the respective hospitals.

The image and sentiment are From The Heart digi colored with SU Blender Pens. Boy do I love those things. Makes coloring and shading so easy.  The stripe paper is SU's Sending Love paper stack.
Submitting to Freshly Made Sketches challenge