Bright as Day with AiFactory

Thursday again so time for another challenge at AiFactory! The challenge this week is "Bright as Day" so lets see those bright colours.



I have to admit, I'm not happy with my project for the challenge. But my ineptitude doesn't take anyway from the fact that this is a great digi. It's called Ella in the Clouds. Unfortunately, the AiF store is offline right now for site maintenance. But if you head over to the AiF blog you can score a pretty nifty freebie. You also see the work of the other ladies on the AiFactory dt. And, believe me, you'll be glad you dropped in!

You Shine

The post title is a line that has been said by a number of characters in more recent Dean Koontz books. (As an aside: He wrote one of my favourites which is titled "Life Expectancy.") Pretty nice compliment to give to someone, don't you think?



(The sun is quite sparkly but you'll have to click on the picture to get a good look at it.)

For:

Do You Stack Up?: shine on
Incy Wincy: sparkle & shine
Stamping Scrapping Central: sparkle
Woodware USA: clean & simple
Cooking It Up With Katie: sparkle, shine & shimmer
Crafts & Me: yellow
Creative Cottage: white/blank space

Happy Days

Love this digi. It's a freebie from Just Some Lines.



Ha! Looking at the photo I just realized that I had forgotten to colour their noses! Oh well, I kinda like it the way it is, so I think I'll leave it.

For:

My Partner in Crafting Crime: 3 + buttons
Pile It On: cutie-patootie
Get Sketchy: sketch
Cooking It Up With Katie: animals + colourful + buttons
Shelly's Images: warm colours
Totally Papercrafts: cuddly + cute
Phindy's Place: all about animals
Digital Tuesday: for the kids

Happy Days

I appear to be having some technical difficulties. I'm going to try to fix them. My goal is to have a new post with this same card. Once I do that, this post will contain a direct link to the new post.

Sorry for any inconvenience!

Okay, new post is up. Just click this link.

Thanks for your patience!

I got a new butterfly punch!

See ↓. I do not like butterflies in real life but they do look pretty on cards.



It's funny, this is one of those cards that looks much better in real life than it does on the screen. The colours are off or something. Oh well, I've had cards that actually have looked better on screen then real life so I guess it all equals out. :-)

For:

CPS: sketch
Stamp, Scrap & Doodle: photo inspiration
Tellen's Place: texture
Pals Paper Arts: embossing
Creative Card Crew: no stamps
Flutterby Wednesdays: open with a butterfly, fairy or angel
Little Red Wagon: butterflies
Pollycraft: friends
365 Cards: Day 28 - You Inspired Me - inspired by my daughter, who loves all things pink and she loves glitter too

It's a bird... it's a plane....

....nope just a slightly self-deprecating layout. And also, a chance to see what I look like when I'm not hand-drawn.



Well, kinda.

Here's a close up of the alpha stickers so you can read them.



For:

Tuesday Throwdown: anything but a card
Top Tip Tuesday: 3+ buttons
Scrapbook Sisters: anything goes
For Fun Challenges: flowers + sentiment
Creative Inspirations Paint: flowers
That's Krafty Thursdays: kraft
The Kraft Journal: kraft + flowers
My Partner in Crafting Crime: 3+ buttons

New Artists and Images @ Squigglefly

Subtitled: Meet Foople



Isn't he (or she, I suppose) great? He comes from Nate Owens, an artist new to Squigglelfy. And if you're looking for Foople in particular, you can get him right here.

If you want to see the other new-to-Squigglefly artists or all the new releases Squigglefly has today, pop over the the Squigglefly blog and check it out. You won't be disappointed!

For:

Squigglefly: buttons
Card Makin' Mamas: animals
Fun at Fairy Knoll: happy
Phindy's Place: all about animals
Totally Papercrafts: cute & cuddly
Southern Girls: add an animal
Creative Card Crew: no stamps (digis okay)
Digital Tuesday: button up

Bunny Chit Chat

Yep, I like the name of this digi so much that I used it as my title. It's from Squigglefly and you can get it for yourself right here.



Perfect for spring and Easter.

For:

Quirky Crafts: sketch It slid away from me a wee bit but you can still see it. ;-)
Paper Pretties: spring
Fresh Brewed: two or more embellis
The Creative Cottage: spring has sprung
The Paper Variety: tic tac toe - my line is use 2+ flowers, use spring colours and scallops
Stamping Vacation: Easter
Wags 'n Whiskers: spring creation
Stampin with the Dragon: bring on spring
I Did It Creations: welcome spring
Creative Inspirations Paint: Easter
Card Cupids: springtime
Aly's Sunday Challenge: Happy Spring
Stamps R Us: spring
Stamping Scrapping Central: pastel
Stamp with Fun: spring
Nettie G's: five different papers - I wasn't sure if the different papers were suppose to be all different colours though. Hope this is okay.
House of Gilli: pastel colours with bling
Papertake Weekly: just be girly
Scrap-Creations: spring
Colour Create: pastels

B is for Baby

Not quite as tasty as C is for Cookie but that's good enough for me. *giggle, snort*



Oh! Cookie, cookie, cookie starts with "C". (Watch it here if you're not singing it in your head right now.)


Digi is a freebie from MelonHeadz.

For:

KB Challenges: babies
Incy Wincy: embossing
Belli Challenge: the letter "C" (I kinda covered that above didn't I? *again, giggle, snort*) for chipboard letter and circles
Crafts & Me: anything goes
Paper Play: embossing
Meljen's: use dots
Charisa Cardz: use die cuts
Guylou's: I see dots
Catch the Bug: baby steps
Paper Sundaes: embossing
Gingerloft: die cuts or punches
Catered Crop: recipe challenge Ingredients I used: colours blue & brown, children stamp, Prismacolor pencils, die cuts, childhood theme, circle shapes
365 Cards: A B C - alphabet stickers/stamps, the colour blue and circle(s)

Pushing My Buttons at Squigglefly

Seeing as last week was March Break for my kiddos I had considered just taking a picture of them for this weeks challenge at Squigglefly but then I realized it's not a challenge about things that push your buttons, it's about using buttons on you project.

Once I had that figured out, I went ahead and made this:



Isn't that digi awesome? It's called Supa Chick and you can get it for yourself right here. And, it's only $1.50. What a deal!

So why not head over to the Squigglefly Challenge and enter the "Pushing My Buttons" challenge? You don't need to use a Squigglefly image but if you do use one you'll be eligible for this week's prize. There's lots of great images at the store if you'd like to purchase one, or if you'd like to try before you by, check out all the freebie right here.

Also for:

Art Impressions : punches or die cuts
C.R.A.F.T.: paper piecing
Crafty Sentiments: animals
Digi Doodle Shop: anything goes
Stamping Vacation: Nestabilities
Totally Papercrafts: buttons
Gingerloft: die cuts or punches
One Stitch At a Time: for the boys

Hey, how's the weather up there?

Just wonderin'.



Digi is from Bugaboo Stamps.

For:

Sew Many Cards: sketch
Stamp-N-Doodle: "g" items - colour green and giraffes
Make It Monday with The Kraft Journal: kraft
The Pixie Cottage: green
Creative Card Crew: green
Pixie Dust Studio: go green
Delightful Challenges: go green
Crafty Purple Frog: green
Card Makin' Mamas: animals
Sugar Creek Hollow: anything goes
Card-Ideas: chocolate, caramel + one other colour
2 Sisters: furry friends

Things with Wings at AiFactory

I'll admit, this was a toughie for me even though we were given a totally yummy set of owl clip art circle tags to work with which you can score for yourself right here. After getting some inspiration from my fellow design team members, (thanks again ladies) I was able to come up with this:



Just goes to show that you can use clip art on cards, and just 'cause it says tag or topper doesn't mean that's what it has to be used for. Make sure you check out the other dt members' project too. Lots and lots of great ideas!

So, why not fly over to AiFactory Challenge Blog and enter the "Things with Wings" challenge for yourself? You don't need to use an AiF image but you can get some great freebies here. Or check out the rest of the store for lots of fabulous digis.

Also for:

2 Sisters Challenge: oh baby
Etsy Inspired: For this picture from Art Work by Lori.
One Stop Craft: clean and simple
Creative Inspirations Paint: animals
Dream Valley Challenges: new beginnings
Paper Sundaes: keep it simple
Cupcake Inspirations: photo inspiration
Papertake Weekly: triple-tastic (3 of something) - leaves
Paper-Crafting Journey: up in the air

The Spanish Language

I'm Canadian, so while I might be able to muddle out a bit of French, the only bits of Spanish I know were taught to me by my daughter, which she learned from watching Dora and Diego. So basically I can count to 5 and say "vamonos" when I want her to get going.

I guess that's why I had a rough time with this sentiment. First I had "Mucho gracias Amigo" which I then found out was wrong. On my next go round, I had the correct spelling but I cut it way off-centre with my Nestie. Now it's done and on the card, I do believe that "technically" the card would have to be given to a man 'cause if it were given to a woman it should say "Muchas gracias Amiga." Hmmmm....maybe I should have just used the sentiment that Marlene used here. (Warning: There are expletives on her site, specifically on this card. Now you really want to go see it, don't you?)



Digi is a freebie from Just Inklined.

For:

Sketch Saturday: sketch
Incy Wincy: for the boys
Ooh La La Creations: it's a man thing
The Crafty Pad: buttons
CES Challenges: men only
Alphabet Challenge: stripes
Moving Along with the Times: card for a male
Creative Craft World: anything goes as long as it's for a male
Clear It Out: buttons

Cool sentiment

I think this would be a great card for a teenage girl. Her mom would give it to her, sappy music would start to play, tears would well in both their eyes, they'd fall into each other's arms, it would be beautiful. It's also unlikely that it would be real life.

Most likely this would be the scenerio: Her mom would spend lots of time crafting the perfect card with this heartfelt sentiment. She would hand it to her daughter, with a gentle smile and then her daughter would toss it on her bed and say, "Thanks. Are we, like, going to the mall or what?"

Gee, I can hardly wait 'til my daughter is a teenager.



Sentiment is a freebie from Create With Tlc.

For:

Shannon's Sentiments: vintage
Do You Stack Up?: layers
Fab 'n' Funky Challenges: girly
A Spoonful of Sugar: anything goes + vintage/shabby
Stamping Vacation: very vintage
There She Goes: kraft
Woodware USA: sentiment focus
365 Cards: Day 12 - Keep It Simple
That's Krafty Thursday: kraft
Paper Pretties: ribbon
Cooking It Up With Kate: sweet, sassy + use a punch

*gasp* An inked image!

Come 'ere, I got a secret. I don't like stamping. Shhh...quiet gasping, I don't want to be kicked out of the cardmaking community! Truth is, I like my digis, I like to print sentiments out on the computer but I really actually don't like inking up a stamp and pressing it onto paper. I've never had much luck with it. Either I don't get the placement right, or it ends up globby or missing half the image 'cause I didn't press it down well enough. I've actually forbidden myself from buying any more image stamps. (Sentiments are still fair game. Sometimes you just need one of those.)

The problem is, digis don't really cut it when you want to make one layer cards. Oh, you can make them work, I managed to do it with this card but it can be quite a headache trying to get the placement right, worrying about the margins etc.

So, when I decided to play along with a one layer challenge, I grabbed a stamp, inked it up, smushed it down on the card (too far away from the side, of course) and that was that. (Or this, I should say.)



Hmmm...the sentiment is darker in real life.

For:

Speedy the Cat's Friends: one layer + lime and gray
Scrap Creations: going green
Lets Ink It Up: embossing
Creative Card Crew: no flowers
Little Red Wagon: green
Craft Us Crazy: nature
Meljens: green
Stamp Insanity: anything goes with a pop of green
Art Impressions: embossing
Delicious Doodles: use green
Phindy's Place: get well/thinking of you - Hopefully "cheer up" counts.
OLW: find inspiration from Marta's pininterests - This was my inspiration.
One Stop Craft: clean & simple
Crazy 4 Challenges: use a tree

Balloon Butt

Used a Bugaboo Stamp for this one. Hmmm...and that's all I have to say about that. (And, of course when I said it, I used a Forrest Gump drawl.)



Oh yeah, the inside reads: "Does this balloon make my butt look big? / Happy Birthday"

Do You Stack Up: layers
Little Miss Muffet: designer papers
Paper Romance: as many colour as possible
Simon Says Stamp: anything goes
Tuesday Throwdown: use scraps
Paper Playtime: use a digi
Catch the Bug: anything goes

"Going Green"/"Greenage" at Squigglefly

Do you remember what movie that quote comes from? It was one of my favourites once upon a time. Yep, you gotta reach back to 1996 for it...(yeah, saying that didn't make me feel old)...it's Twister.

Okay, now that the trivia portion of the post is over, on to business. This week at Squigglefly the challenge is (obviously) to use the colour green. Actually, the challenge is to make a monochrome green project.



Hmmmm....I'll have to admit it's a bit less monochrome than it should be. (My fault for missing the "monochrome" part when I read what the challenge was.) But, even though I might have cheated a bit this week, that doesn't detract from this great digi! It's called Japanese Bonsai Tree and it's a steal of a deal at 99¢. You can get it for yourself right here.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, the sentiment reads "peace and tranquility." (At least according to Google Translate that's what it says. ;-) )

So why not head over to the Squigglefly Challenge and enter the "Grateful for Green" challenge? You don't need to use a Squigglefly image but if you do use one you'll be eligible for this week's prize.

Also for:

Aly's Sunday Challenge: anything goes
Corrosive: going green
Creative Inspirations Paint: green
ECP: green
Card Makin Mamas: something green
Craft Us Crazy: anything that reminds you of nature
Do You Stack Up?: green
Penny's Paper-Crafty: green
Top Tip Tuesday: favourite technique - Using nesties to sponge ink around image to leave a frame

Disgruntled Dave

Hey, Dave why you looking so down in the dumps? You got invited to a birthday party after all, you should be a bit perky.

Poor Disgruntled Dave. He's got absolutely no fashion sense. I mean really, who would wear that to a party?



Disgruntled Dave is a digi from Squigglefly. And he's only $1.00 so a real steal. You can get one for yourself right here.

For:

Dude Time Doodles: sketch
Creative Craft World: a card for a male
The Paper Shelter: use your scraps
Woodware USA: anything goes
Digi's With Attitude: anything goes
Stamp Something: use a digi
Art Impressions: funny cards
Crafty Sentiments: birthday
Do You Stack Up?: use some green
Pixie Dust: seeing polka dots

Debut at the AiFactory

Bah, bah, bah. (That, my friends, is a bugle heralding this post. Yeah, I know. You'll have to forgive me. I don't have much talent when it comes to music.)

So, this is the very first card for my new dt position at AiFactory. This week the challenge is "A Drop in the Bucket," so a water theme.

Here's my card using an adorable "Ella Under the Sea" digi which you can get for yourself right here.



The inside of the card reads "Happy Birthday."

So, why not swim (Ha! Swim! At least I amuse myself anyway.) over to the AiFactory Challenge blog and take part? You don't need to use an AiFactory image but if you have one we'd love to see it. If you don't have an AiF image you could score a freebie here.

While you're there, check out the other members of the design team and see what they've come up with this week.

Also for:

Craft Your Passion: girly girl
Stamps R Us: for the girls
Card Creations & More: sparkle
Challenge Up Your Life: fairy tales
Sweet Stampin': oh so girly
Crafts and Me: under the sea
Crafty Creations: Happy Birthday with blues and greens
Scrap Creations: kids' cards

Embelli Free

Yep, with just a bit of baker's twine. Would have looooved if I had had some jute to put on this card but had to go with what I had on hand.



Digi is a freebie from DZ Doodles.

For:

Dream Valley Challenges: anything goes
One Stop Craft Challenge: spring flowers
Paper Cutz: spring
Stamp Something: flowers
4 Crafty Chicks: photo inspiration
Crafty Sentiments: spring
Create with Connie and Mary: photo inspiration
Paper Playtime: anything goes with a digi
Papertake Weekly: anything goes + something old - patterned paper
The Crazy Challenge: here comes spring
Die Cut Dreams: spring garden scene
Incy Wincy Designs: here comes spring
KB Cute Mondays: anything goes with a digi
Everybody Art: spring
Desert Island Crafters: chose from an itinerary - inspired by nature, hand coloured image, 2 or more patterned papers, twine and no sentiment on the front