The BEARS are loose at Doodle Dragon!

This bi-weekly challenge at Pike's Playground is

"Bear Minimum"!

To simplify, this means we ask that you make a
Clean and Simple

(CAS)

card that has a Doodle Dragon bear image somewhere
inside or out!

As a terrific new release, we have this little bathing beauty!
I made this card as just a basic, "Howdy, from vacay!" type message.

"Sand between my toes"....

This bear image can be found in Dustin's brand new releases!

It's hard to see, but her little bikini IS yellow with tiny ploka dots!

Here's my second card made for the challenge.

Gate fold card, simply decorated with a sweet sentiement, and a bit of cord...

Opens to this...

It's difficult to see in the photo, but my little bear hangs from the sides of the card, and swings freely inside when the card is opened.

Here's from a different perspective:

Have fun with this challenge!

We want to see all of your imaginative ideas!

Supplies used:

Kraft paper

Sentiment (front), My Favorite Things, "Spa Day"

Sentiment (inside), Inkadinkado, "Kid Quotes"

Bear image, "Doodle Dragons"

Trees, Ippity, "So This is Love"

Copics Markers

Jute cord



DCWV has a challenge for you!

Please scroll down for my Stampendous post...

The month of August has brought many great things,

but one of the best things?

For me, it's my first month as a Stack-a-holic Design Team member at

Die Cuts With a View!

If aren't already familiar with it, Erin has a fantastic blog at

DCWV Diary

and has a monthly Stack-a-holic

layout and card sketch template challenge where you can win new paper stacks!
Does it get better than that?

This is where you can be first to see all of the wonderful paper stacks that DCWV releases and are available at

Michael's and JoAnns!

The card sketch challenge this month is:

And here's my take on it!

The papers are from the gorgeous "Gilded Orchard" collection, available at JoAnns.

Aren't they yummy?

If you are more inclined to make layouts, here is the amazing sketch for the

Stack-a-holic Template Challenge this month!

Get busy, and you could be one of our Top 10 chosen and showcased at DCWV Diary, or even win some DCWVpaper of your own!

Happy Halloween from Stampendous!

"The Pumpkin Fence"

First off, I want to let you in on a little secret.

 (well, a secret except to anyone who personally knows me)

I am the "Queen of Frugal".

I am the CHEAPEST person you'll ever meet!

I save everything and, if I can make it for less, I'm not buying it at the store.

That especially goes for scrapbook supplies!

THIS is what it looks like when you save all of your Stampendous embossing powders, glitters, crushed glasses, and micas from all of your products rather than tossing it

in the trash can.

Pretty, eh?

When it came to adding a bit of sparkle to my card,

I grabbed the "Mixed" jar, and this is what it looks like!

I used the "Cling Pumpkin Fence" stamp and did very little coloring. 

I'm dealing with some carpal tunnel issues right now,

so trying to use other techniques more.

The only Copics I used were:

Y38, YR27, YR23, E35, and E37.

Easy peasy!

I wet my colored image and sprinkled just a tiny bit of instant coffee onto the front and continued spritzing it until I had the amount of stain that I wanted.

I pulled out the My Mind's Eye, "Spider's Web" papers
for my image mat and background dotted pattern.

After inking all of the edges, and assembling my card, I attached the scalloped edge that came in the paper collection to the bottom of my card.

NOW THE FUN STARTS!

Fran'taging with the micas, embossing powders, and glitters has really made scrapping so exciting!  I'm like a child when it comes to playing in this stuff!

I sprinkled my concoction on the upper right and lower left corners of my card and heated from the underside until everything melded together!

The black mesh trim adds a spider web-like feel,

and the Prima flower is simply a sweet touch.

A little bit more of the "magic mix" on the top of the mesh,

carefully heating until melted, and it's done!

Boo!

DYSU Challenge has Four Legs!

                                                          Birdie Brown

* Winner's Choice of 3 Digital Stamps

The Paper Shelter

* $20 Gift Certificate

Bugaboo Stamps

* Winner's Choice of 7 Digis

With time being short, and my grandson visiting this week, I used a brand new image from Stampendous for my challenge card!

The Halloween bat bug has bitten me and I am really enjoying making the

spooky/silly cards this year!

(Usually that is not a favorite holiday unless I am dressed up and scaring the crap out of little neighborhood kids! Bwaa-ha-ha-ha!)

"Punkin Girl"

Check out what the rest of team did with the challenge!

Paper: 7 Gypsies
Bling: Recollections
Sentiement: Computer Font, BackSplatter (Free)

Four legs?  That leaves a lot of possibilities!

Of course, I think mine totals six!  LOL!

Stampendous August Challenge!

At Stampendous this month, we're celebrating SENTIMENTS!
These sentiments can easily stand alone,

but pair them up with some gorgeous bling and glitter,

and you have the ideal birthday greeting!

Happy Birthday, Princess!

I used the "Vintage Crowns" stamp,

and Jeweled Gold embossed it against the black background...

For the royal banner, I chose to roll the sentiment around two homemade stickpins, finished off on both ends with some pretty amber teardrop beads!
They match the glittery gold embossing perfectly!
This reminds me of all the gorgeous pomp and circumstance going on
in London right now!
It's good to be Queen!

The sentiment is from the "Birthday Assortment"

clear stamp set!  So many great greetings!

The tiny stamped scroll at the bottom adds just the right touch of elegance.

"Flourish Frames"

Add your creation to this month's challenge link and you could win three terrific Stampendous stamp sets!

Stampendous August Challenge Starts!

August Challenge – Focus on Sentiments

 

Having the perfect sentiment for a card is really a challenge sometimes!

How do you solve it?  Buy every stamp you see with a sentiment you love!

At Stampendous,  they have lots of fantastic sentiments for any occasion.

Some take more creativity than others to discover, but they also have some terrific Perfectly Clear Stamps™ Alphabets for making any sentiment you like.

This month, some of the  Designers will show you tips and tricks for getting that perfect sentiment and they want you to play along!

Go here to link your project at Stampendous Impressions using a sentiment you love as the focus of your piece to our linky below and you could be the lucky winner of some of our fantastic sentiments just released in the new July catalog.  They’ll give away three stamps this month!  can you say "Whoo-hoo!"

One of Suzanne's beautiful tags!

There's more!  Check out the list of team members and their projects at Stampendous!

Pretty Poinsettia Basket!

I love this new holiday stamp

"Cling Holly Basket"

from Stampendous!

Talk about capturing the feel of Christmas!

The detail in the little berries and leaves is amazing!

I colored the image with Copics, and cut it and the red frame out with

"Spellbinders Lables Nine"

popped it up on some fun pattern paper, and applied the whole mat to some glitter cardstock from AGES ago!

To tie it all together, I used a stripe from the same pattern collection, and extended it across the card, along with a spinkling of the

Red Tinsel Glitter and Silver Crushed Glass!

The punched snowflakes were a last minute addition, one of which I dipped into the gorgeous silver crushed glass!

You should see it sparkle and shimmer!

This is my new favorite simple-to-color, go-to, holiday card image!

DYSU Challenge #83 - Polka Dots!

Broken Box Stock

* A "Toodle Club Membership" and a free Toodle Birthday Calendar.  Total prize package is a $29 value.

Stamp & Create

* $25 Gift Certificate

I LOVE polka dots!!!
And plaids, and stripes, checkers, any pattern that says, "Hey, look at me!"
At least on my projects. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a very conservative dresser. I let my scrapping speak for me.

This little journal started out as a black version of this:

A great find in the Dollar Bin at Michael's some time back.

I had no idea why I needed several of these little books, but for the price,

they came home with me.

I painted the front edges solid black and covered it with the polka dot paper from My Mind's Eye, then added the pretty black and white ruffle down the side.

I know you're thinking "that's not using so much polka dot paper!"...

but I added dots to her dress and the gorgeous little bookband!

(Which doubles as a headband or wrist band should the recipient choose.)

This little Broken Box Stock image looks so cute on the front.

Perfect for a teacher friend going back to face the new school year!

And the best part?

Her name begins with "G", so the back didn't even have to be altered.

Perhaps she'll keep her thoughts in here about what she plans to do when she retires next year!  LOL!

What can you make with Polka Dots?

Stampendous Winners!

And the winners from Saturday's hop are:

Thank you to all who participated in our hop on Saturday! We’ve chosen 3 winners from the blog posts and sweet comments, and here they are!!
From Kristine Reynold’s Blog the winner is:

Teresa Godines

the winner of:

Cling Kiddo Skateboard and Purple Color Fragments

From April Derrick’s Blog the winner is:

Ashli Oliver

and she wins:

Cling Decorative Grate and Aged Wine Embossing Enamel

And finally, from Wendy Jordan’s Blog the winner is:

Emily.trekkie

                                

Cling London and Vintage Royal Blue Embossing Tinsel

 

Thanks for playing and have a great time with your new Stampendous products!

 

 

 

Doodle Dragon's really out there!

Okay, I took some liberties with the challenge this month!  I am feeling a bit silly because of this ridiculously hot weather we are having, and I think the heat got to me. (We'll call it that anyway!)

The theme is "Gettin' Girly".

Well, I don't do "GIRLY" cards too often, BUT I do silly, off the grid, out-of-the-box , and slightly off-color ones every chance I get!

Some of you may recognize this fella as being the very normal, conservative clown from Dustin's CIRCUS release. Since the challenge was to "get girly", I figured, send the little dude to Las Vegas with a couple hundred bucks to spend and a night on the town, and see what comes back...well...I never knew...

"JoJo", the clown, became "Josephine", the clown!  HAHA!

Yes, highly disturbing and pretty funny if you ask me!

"WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS....
STAYS IN VEGAS!"

Proves that Dustin's images can be used for those adult cards, too!

Hope it made you chuckle!

Christmas Cardinals!

If you're here, chances are you want to see more

STAMPENDOUS

goodies!

Go, Cardinals!

Growing up in the midwest, not only was our famous baseball team named after these gorgeous birds, but they were frequent visitors to our parks and backyards.

I recall watching flocks of mated pairs visiting our bird feeders and

eating seed off the white snow.

Not something I will soon see in Phoenix.

Go, Stampendous!

I started with the idea that I would love to have a reminder of these pretty creatures as a home decor item for the holidays.

BEFORE:

I had WON an entire set of these plates in a game of "White Elephant" years ago.

(Thanks Amie!)

These are nice, but never really matched my Tuscan decor.

So, I sprayed a bit of adhesive to help the Shabby Green Embossing Powder and the Shaved Ice flakes stick, then heated it just to the point of melting.

If I had it to do over, I would have sprinkled a little Chunky White first,

just to brighten the plate's center.

I colored the "Cardinals" image with Copics, and cut it into the oval shape.

I then colored a second branch of the berries, fussing cutting around them, and attacheded them to the front of the image with Pop-Dots..

This gave it such a dimensional look!

With liquid applique paint used as snow, it really made the snow explode off the image!

There's also more "snow" around the outside of the image on the plate,

although it is more difficult to see in the photo.

The berries have the tiniest spot of "Red Tinsel" Embossing Powder on each.

As I do not claim to be very good with Copics markers, this image has so much of the texture etched into it already, that coloring it was so easy!

I enjoy using items around the house that I've had for a long time,

and making fun, new projects with them!

It's difficult to imagine it today, but winter and Christmas WILL be here soon!

Stampendous

has some absolutely perfect stamps and essentials to make your holiday decorating and cardmaking a breeze!

And now, to conclude this week-long

Showcase of Releases and for our Blog Hop,

you know the drill!  Go through the following list of Design Team members, visit each one's blog, and leave a comment!!  Not only do some of them have their own blog candy, Stampendous will be drawing a winner today for all three of these great prize packs!

How do you win it? It's easy! THREE of the bloggers today will be choosing a random commenter from their blog, and those lucky people will be announced on the Stampendous blog Tuesday, July 31 (please leave comments by Monday, July 30 at 11:59 PM PST). The more places you leave a comment, the better your chances are to win!   Below is the list of team members who are sharing inspiration today:

Kristine Reynolds

Lynn Mercurio

Jennifer Dove

Taylor Usry (has additional blog candy)

Jan Garber

Lea Kimmel (has additional blog candy)

Cyndi Bundy

Pam Hornschu (has additional blog candy)

Rhea Weigand

Janelle Stollfus

Wendy Price

Tenia Nelson

Jennifer Ingle

Melinda Gleissner

Stephanie Lee

Susie Moore

Suzanne Czosek

Wendy Jordan

Krissy Fossmeyer

April Derrick

Tobi Crawford

Please leave your comment, along with your contact information, and someone will be lucky enough to win all 3 of these terrific prizes! You don't know WHO is the featured DT member, so don't miss anyone!

And let me know what your favorite stamp or new color essential was from the new release! I love to hear from you!

Oldtime Memories...

Well, not my memories, of course...

I'm not quite old enough to remember these old stick horses, and by the time I was born,
little boys were not wearing the short pants... 

But we all rode around on our more "modern" versions of the hobby horse.

No, in the 50's they still didn't "neigh" when you pulled a string, or make a clicking sound when you ran...we DID have to use a bit more imagination than that!

This is one of the gorgeous new releases from
STAMPENDOUS!

The new stamp,
"Hobby Horse",
is absolutely vintage perfect.

I have been waiting for just the right images to use with my

Graphic 45, "Playtimes Past" papers, and this fits the bill!

The image is cut out with Spellbinders, "Labels Nine", colored with Copics, and then the frame was cut three times (twice on chipboard, once with pattern paper) and layered over the image. The whole thing was then popped up off the card.

The little banner was also strung and popped up to give even more dimension.

Ahhh, my heart swoons when I get a new vintage stamp.

Get on over to Stampendous to see the rest of the Design Team's creations!
They're sure to knock your socks off!

Not only do some of them have their own blog candy, Stampendous will be drawing a winner for this great prize pack.

How do you win it? It's easy! One of the featured bloggers today will be choosing a random commenter from her blog, and that lucky person will be announced on the Stampendous blog tomorrow. The more places you leave a comment, the better your chances are to win! Below is the list of team members who are sharing inspiration today:

Stampendous Impressions
Kristine Reynolds
Jennifer Dove 
Taylor Usry (has blog candy)
Jan Garber
Lea Kimmel 
Pam Hornschu
Rhea Weigand
Wendy Price
Tenia Nelson
Krissy Fossmeyer
April Derrick

Please leave a comment so that you can be in the running to win this terrific stamp and gorgeous glass glitter!