Frannie Farmer needs advice!

Hi, everyone!
I have a question for you all........when you use large stamps, like the one on this card, do you size your card larger than 5x5. or .....? What do you do with them? I had such a hard time with a card layout for this image! I love how her coloring turned out, but the card layout does not make me happy. So, I am looking for advise on my next one with her (and some other larger SU retired ladies I have - Nellie the Nest Lady, Betsy the Bee Keeper, Winter Wilma - love them ALL!).

I colored Frannie in with some watercolor pencils, and then I used my water brush on her. (Scroll down for a post about this pencil from yesterday). I'm not sure I'm digging (no pun intended here) the layout - what say you?

Rolling along....and still waiting for the furniture!

Not that thiry minutes would help bring my furniture here any quicker, but I'm counting down! hahaha! I finished up this card, too. Another beach trip image. I had her colored, was very happy with the shading on her, and then started putting the card together. I really did have a vision in my head, but it did not turn out like I was thinking. Hmm....oh well, right? I'm sure the furniture people aren't hurrying along, so I'll have more time to make something else in a minute! Hahahaha!

This is a Sassy Cheryl image, LOVE her style! Apparently, there are more than one of us - haha! Get it?! She's a Sassy Cheryl, and I'm a Cheryl that's been known to be sassy, too.....hehehe! I am amusing myself this morning!  I don't have many of her things, but she has a flair for the kid-things in life! The Prima flowers I had picked up specifically for this image, but now I am not sure I like them so much. Hmmmmm........I did add some Diamond Stickles to the edges of them, and it helped a little. What do you think??

Owl-ways friends!

Hi, everyone! This is my second post today - I also did a challenge card post (scroll down) this morning. I've been a very busy girl.......or maybe it is just my way of dealing with the anxiousness of waiting for my new craft furniture!! Yay! I FINALLY am going to have a "real" desk and table! I've been working on plastic folding tables that aren't even, have texture to them, and aren't very stable for a very long time! Anyhow, my dh took me shopping on Saturday, and I found something I love! It is scheduled to be delivered today. I will post some photos once it is set up! :0)
In the meantime, I'll keep busy with my cards today. Here's one I made (again, still using things I worked on at the beach!) that uses the SU Owl Punch. I do not have this punch, but my friend brought it along on the beach trip with her. I used some old, old, OLD Sizzix paper packs to punch three different colors of the owl, then I mixed up the pieces to put these together. The sentiment is something I made in PSE.  Hope you like! I love the owls so much, I'm going toplace an order for the punch today! :0)

Friendship is always fashionable!

Today I worked on a card to use up some of my Cottage Wall DSP that you've seen, lately, plus I have a free svg file for you!
For this card, I used Stampin Up card stock and papers: Soft Suede, Rich Razzleberry and Certainly Celery card stock in addition to the already mentioned Cottage Wall DSP. I also used SU hand punches and border punch - Eyelet Border, Oval and Scalloped Oval hand punches. The dress form is embossed using a Cuttlebug folder called Swiss Dots, and the soft sueded border is embossed with the Cuttlebug folder D'Vine Swirls. I used a Nestabilities die for the base paper beneath the dress form.
Thanks for checking it out! Don't forget to stop by the BLOG CANDY I have posted right now to enter to win! :0)
Happy Crafting!

CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE SVG DOWNLOAD

Please leave some love if you enjoy my freebies! I love to hear from you! :) This is how I know you were here, like what you see, and would like to see more!

If you have any problems with this file, please let me know so I can fix it for you, and for others!

And, PLEASE....

Any files I offer are for PERSONAL, NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY. This means that you may not sell them, alter them, or share them. They are not for use on websites (including blogs), or for marketing in any way.

Should you wish to share my files with others, please post a link to my site and give due credit.

Links for all my SVG files can be found in the left column of my blog. 

The files I offer are typically compressed, and will need to be unzipped prior to use.

Cut files are in SVG format and are compatible with Sure Cuts A Lot, make the Cut and any software cutting program that supports svg files.

You can contact me at cherylfirst1@yahoo.com if you have any questions about any of my files, or if you just want to drop me a note! 

Happy Crafting!  :)

My Top 10 Cards of 2010 Blog Hop

Hey, everyone!
Fellow inaugural torchbearer for Amber Ink, Suzy McKenzie, has created a blog hop that I'm throwing my hat into! It is for My Top 10 Cards of 2010. If you'd care to join along, hop over to Suzy's blog, The Manic World of Mrs Weyremaster, to pick up your blog hop badge and to link to the hop!
Amber Ink-lings is sweetening the hop with a little giveaway, too! If you have at least one Amber Ink image used on one of your Top 10 Cards, and you add your linky to their blog, you can win some Amber Ink stuff!
So, go to it.....right after you check out MY Top 10, that is! :)

Frog SVG by SVGCuts.com

Dragon image Copyright Dustin Pike

Swirly Heart SVG from Amy's SVG's and Other Scrap Stuff

Frog Digi from Cely at Creating in Carolina

Stamped Jester from Whiff of Joy Stamps

Broom SVG from SVGCuts.com

Digi-paper by ME! :)

Digistamp by Just Inklined

Lion Digistamp by Digital Delights

Penguin digistamp by Bugaboo Stamps

SVG card base by SVGCuts.com

Digistamp by Meljens Designs

SVG heart border by ME! :)

Digistamps and iPaper by Amber Ink

Inspiration Team Challenge 08/27

Melanie, at Scrappily Ever After, has been celebrating the upcoming Back to School season this month, and today is the day for a photo challenge! The team of gals she put together to help inspire others to create cards for Operation Write Home has some amazing submissions for you, so be sure to check out Melanie's blog! 

Today's photo is a beautiful rainbow of colored pencils

And here is my card - isn't this little turtle adorable?! I picked him up at Bugaboo Stamps.

The colored pencil bg paper is one that I made, I ended up not caring much for it once I was done, which is why most is covered up with embellishes here! So, no freebie today, sorry! Check back next week, or on my Cartoon Saturday! I promise to have one then for you! 

As always, if you have any requests for a digi-paper, please let me know!

Inspiration Team Challenge 08/20 & A Freebie SVG file! Bugaboo Back to School Challenge

Melanie, at Scrappily Ever After, has been celebrating the upcoming Back to School season this month, and today is the day for a photo challenge! The team of gals she put together to help inspire others to create cards for Operation Write Home has some amazing submissions for you, so be sure to check out Melanie's blog! 

Today's photo is Alphabet Blocks

I remember playing with alphabet blocks! I used to stack them up, just so I could knock them back down again. I don't think I ever bothered with trying to spell anything with them.

Anyhow, here is my card! I've also entered this one in the Bugaboo Back to School Challenge over on the Catch the Bug Blog! The challenge was to use primary colors on your card.

For this card, I used a Bugaboo Digi-Stamp. I am loving coloring with my pencils. I recently found Bugaboo Stamps, and she had a great sale going on, so I purchased as many as I could afford! The images are adorable, and they print so nice!

The background paper I used on this card is one that I made myself. If you'd like to have it, check out my post from August 6! I also made the alphabet blocks from a text, Baby Blocks, using my Sure Cuts A Lot program and my Cricut. Here is the freebie SVG file for you to use to make your own alpha blocks! :)

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you like my card!

Inspiration Team Challenge 08/13 & A Freebie!

Melanie, at Scrappily Ever After, has been celebrating the upcoming Back to School season this month, and today is the day for a photo challenge! The team of gals she put together to help inspire others to create cards for Operation Write Home has some amazing submissions for you, so be sure to check out Melanie's blog! 
Today's photo is a globe

And below is my card!

I've been practicing my coloring with markers, and my Bugaboo Stamp is colored and then cut out by hand. I glued him on a background paper that I made, and this is your freebie digi-paper today! 

Click Here to download your freebie!

Please leave some love if you enjoy my freebies! I love to hear from you! :)

File download is compressed and will need to be un-zipped prior to use. Each file contains the image in jpg and png format. The copyright shown on the preview pic is not on the downloaded files.

And, please....these downloads are for personal use ONLY - do not redistribute or share my files! I ask, instead, that you post a link back to my blog. :)

"Thank You!" to the teachers! Scrap Challenge Wednesday & Freebie DigiPaper

Today is a Scrap Challenge Wednesday at Scrappily Ever After, and the them this month is "Back To School", so I created this thank you card for the teacher! I don't think we pay teachers nearly enough money for the amount of time that we entrust them with our #1 assets - our children!

I used SVGCuts.com "Back To School" Digicart to make the apple, and then I hand wrote "Thank You" on it in a platinum gel pen. (Tough to see with the photo). The image is a digi-stamp that I purchased from Bugaboo Stamps, awwwwww, lovin' the stuff from them!!!

All the paper is from my scrap pile, including the card base, and the white that I used to print the image on (go me! lol!)

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my card, please leave me some love!

I put together a cute-sy digi-paper for today's freebie. I found this adorable little teddy bear, and I think he would be so cute on a kindergartners scrap page!

You can download him HERE

Inspiration Team Challenge 08/06 & A Freebie Digi-Paper

Melanie, at Scrappily Ever After, has been a new theme for the month of August - Back to School -  and today is the day for a photo challenge! The team of gals she put together to help inspire others to create cards for Operation Write Home has some amazing submissions for you, so be sure to check out Melanie's blog! 

For today's challenge, I have made a digital card front. I plan on printing this to affix to a card that is 5" x 5" so I can send it in to Operation Write Home.

I used a digi-kit called Study Buddies, created by Lisa and Jeanne Marie from Precious Piecings and Jeanne Marie's Scraps. (You can purchase Jeanne Marie's other digi-kits at www.acherryontop.com). While I did not use my own digi-paper on this card, I have created one for you to go along with today's challenge photo! You can pick it up at the bottom of this post. :)

I do not have any elementary school age kids: my son is going to be a senior in high school this year. Wow.....where has the time gone! I am recently unemployed, and am looking forward to being able to attend all of the school functions this year! I usually make it to most of them, but now I will be able to visit, even during the week (for those new to my blog, my son goes to a private school, several hours away from home, so visits include overnight stays close to campus). What about you? Are your kids just starting school, or are they "seasoned scholars"?

I hope you like my digi-card, and don't forget to head over to Melanie's blog to see the other team members creations!

And now, for what you've all been waiting for......

a freebie!

For today's freebie digi-paper, CLICK HERE!

Please leave some love if you enjoy my freebies! I love to hear from you! :)

File download is compressed and will need to be un-zipped prior to use. Each file contains the image in jpg and png format. The copyright shown on the preview pic is not on the downloaded files.

And, please....these downloads are for personal use ONLY - do not redistribute or share my files! I ask, instead, that you post a link back to my blog. :)

Back to School - Wednesday Scrap Challenge

Today is the day for another Scrap Challenge over at Scrappily Ever After, and the theme this month is "Back To School". I had this adorable Dustin Pike Image, from Season of Dragons, so I printed him up to color him in. I love Dustin's Dragons, and this one brings back memories of lugging around a heavy backpack every day! You see, all of us were "little" at one point, but I was always the "littlest"!
Anyhow, this was a simple card to make - some oval cuts, coloring and embossing with a CB folder. Hope you like!

Please join Melanie, and the rest of the DT over at Scrappily Ever After all month for more great school-time inspiration! And if you like what you see, please leave some love! Everyone likes to know they're efforts are appreciated!

Inspiration Team Challenge 07/30 & A Freebie

Melanie, at Scrappily Ever After, has been celebrating Christmas in July, and today is the day for a photo challenge! The team of gals she put together to help inspire others to create cards for Operation Write Home has some amazing submissions for you, so be sure to check out Melanie's blog! 
Today's card is based on the photo of Christmas lights...ooooooooo, prettttyyyy! :) They always do mesmerize me!
In the spirit of using up my scraps, and trying to ease the burden of moving them all when the time comes, I made this card for this challenge.

I'm a terrible photographer, so I scan my cards. This tree is on pop-dots, and I ended up with a shadow, and a slight blur to my pic - sorry! I tried.......and failed.. :( I'm going to try to do better next time. Maybe I'll even pull out the camera and try to shoot the photo. Maybe.

Material List

SU Cardstock from Scrap Pile - Certainly Celery, Garden Green, Confetti Cream

Leftover Christmas Light Brads & Star Brad Buddy

SU Ink - Garden Green

Sponge Dauber

Pop DOts

SU Stamp - Short & Sweet

SCAL

(The christmas tree was traced from a jpg image in SCAL).

In honor of the end of our Christmas in July theme, I have three papers for you today!

:)

Thanks for checking out my submission to the challenges! I hope that I inspired you a little, and that you come back next month for our school theme! 

See you soon!

Click HERE to download the file

Please leave some love if you enjoy my freebies! I love to hear from you! :)

File download is compressed and will need to be un-zipped prior to use. Each file contains the image in jpg and png format. The copyright shown on the preview pic is not on the downloaded files.

And, please....these downloads are for personal use ONLY - do not redistribute or share my files! I ask, instead, that you post a link back to my blog. :)

A Summer Dragon Flower for You! - Scrap Challenge Wednesday

Melanie, at Scrappily Ever After, hosts a Scrap Challenge every Wednesday. She's doing a great job of kicking my butt into gear for creating cards for Operation Write Home to send to the troops! This is my submission to the team of gals she put together to help inspire others to create with just their scrap pile papers! This card was put together with only scrap paper!

Scrap challenge cards can include scrap papers and any embellishes from previously opened packages (for ribbon, it should come from a roll you've already cut from). 

Today, I made a card using a Dustin Pike Image. It's from his Dragon For All Seasons Collection of digi-stamps. (We LOVE dragons at our house, don't you?!). I used an EK Success border punch and did some sponging on the edges. The image is colored with my Prisma Colored Pencils. If you take a peek at my Labels list (right column of the blog), you can see I have several posts with a Dragon label. So....if you like dragons, too, please check out my other posts, and leave me a comment to let me know what you think of my dragons! :)


Happy Crafting!

Random Sunday - An OWH Sketch Challenge #27

Hi, everyone! Welcome to Random Sunday........where "anything goes" is the norm!

I've done  couple things this morning: an OWH Sketch Challenge, and some coloring of a freebie digi-stamp I found.

First, my OWH Sketch Challenge #27:

Here is the sketch

And here is the card I created for it!

I used a digistamp from Pollycraft, I pulled out some of My SU DP scraps, and my SU markers, and some Pastel Pebbles Brads. This was a fun sketch!

Today I have a card to show you that I practiced my marker coloring. Coloring with pencils is definitely my stronger suit - markers have always seemed to cause me strife! I just can't seem to pick the right colors for shading, I guess! Anyhow, here is what I came up with:

This time, instead of the coloring creating problems for me, my ribbon didn't want to cooperate - go figure! All in all, I think it turned out okay. Not as bad as I thought I'd do! :) Yay!

I used a freebie digi stamp from GingerLoft, that you can find here. She's also having a sale in her store, so hop on over and check her out!

Bugaboo Sweet Sweet Summer Challenge

Today, I worked on coloring in a Bugaboo Stamp that I purchased this week. It is my entry for the Bugaboo Challenge, which is to create a summer themed card.

This is the first time I used my Stickles Rock Candy (on his nose), and I also used Star Dust on his wings, and Turquoise on his antennae. I colored him in with my SU markers, and then I cut him out and applied him to some old scrap papers I have. 

Hope you like my Grillin' Bear! He's "Hot Stuff"! lol!

Scrap Challenge Wednesday

Melanie, at Scrappily Ever After, hosts a Scrap Challenge every Wednesday. She's doing a great job of kicking my butt into gear for creating cards for Operation Write Home to send to the troops! This is my submission to the team of gals she put together to help inspire others to create with just their scrap pile papers! This card was put together with only scrap paper!
Scrap challenge cards can include scrap papers and any embellishes from previously opened packages (for ribbon, it should come from a roll you've already cut from). 
Since our Inspiration Team has been working on the Christmas in July theme for the photo challenges that we post for on Friday's, I decided to keep using the papers I had already cut for another of my creations. Because the challenge for this is to use scraps, I'm not going to be posting a material list for these cards. I can't always remember where the papers came from. I do not organize my scraps, other than throwing them all in one box. Do you? How do you organize them? By color? Brand of paper? Theme? Leave a comment and share your ideas! :)


Happy Crafting!

OWH Sketch Challenge #26/Tales from Pollycraft

OWH has a sketch challenge posted this week. Here is the sketch:

And here is the card I created for the sketch! I used a freebie stamp from Tales from Pollycraft.  It is also posted on thier blog for their "Flash Your Freebies"!

Random Sunday

Hi all!
Thanks for stopping by for my Random Sunday! This is going to be my posting day that has no specific theme, or challenge. I may still include themes and challenge cards on Sundays, but Sundays are going to be reserved for "whatever" I feel like! We have to allow ourselves some flexibility, don't you agree? :)
This card is something I made using my friend, Cely's great digi-stamp. (You can visit her at Creating in Carolina, she gives away some awesome svg's that she creates, and she's incredibly talented!) I just love this little frog!
I actually had created a "Buggy" digi-paper a week ago (You can find it here), so I used it for my frog background for this card. A few other scraps, punches, and some brads and ribbon......voila! He's ready to hang out in the sun, which is where I'm headed in just a few minutes! :) Enjoy your day!!

Happy Crafting!

Strawberries....Mmmmmmm!

My favorite fruit in the whole world is strawberries! YUMMMMYYY! I could eat them until I explode! So, when I found this fantastic little digi stamp (for free!) at Sliekje's Digi Stamps Blog, I was so happy! It is a good image for use with my new SVGCuts.com Strawberry Lane Digicart cuts!
I colored the girl with my Prismacolor pencils. It was great to relax in my craft room and do some coloring! :)
Thanks for checking out my card - please leave me a comment to let me know what you think!

Material List

SU Cardstock - Garden Green, Certainly Celery, Whisper White

MME Magnolia Designer Paper

Prismacolor Pencils

SU Punches - Oval, Scalloped Oval

SVGCuts.com Digicart - Strawberry Lane

Cuttlebug Embossing Folders - Swiss Dots, Tapestry

Sponge Daubers

SU Ink - Kiwi Kiss, Rose Red

SU Stamp - Short & Sweet

Scrap Challenge Wednesday

Melanie, at Scrappily Ever After, hosts a Scrap Challenge every Wednesday. This is my submission for inspiring others to create with just their scrap pile papers! This card was put together with only scrap paper! This is the first time I've ever done a scrap challenge, so I didn't add any extra embellishes (ribbons, brads, etc). I've asked my hostess if they're okay to use, and if they are, I'll consider using that kind of stuff on my next scrap challenge card!
Hope you like!

Material List

All Papers are from the scrap pile

Stampin' Up Tag Time stamped image

Stampin Up Ink - Not Quite Navy

SU Large Star Punch, Small Star Punch, Corner Punch, Large Oval Punch

EK Success Border Punch

Cuttlebug Embossing Folders - D'Vine Swirls, Swiss Dots, Mesh Texture

Sponge Dauber