Pretty Little Pagoda Girl - Mo Manning and Cricut

                             

I couldn't wait to use my Copics to color this sweet little Mo Manning digi girl in her kimono. I knew the Pagoda cartridge in the Cricut Design Space would create the perfect home for her. I absolutely love designing little scenes for my stamped images to live in.  Paper dolls and doll houses...what's not to love!!!

My friend's birthday is next week and she adores all things Asian.  What a perfect opportunity for me to spend some time creating this Lori Whitlock shutter card.  This is the first time I've used this svg file and I just love it.  So many surfaces to decorate!  It's an A7 size card, so there's oodles of room for me  to go crazy adding die cuts. And I can size and stretch them in Design Space to fit my card panels perfectly.

I can imagine so many fun scenarios for using this shutter card.  I'm glad I've taken the time to become familiar with the Cricut Design Space, even if my head does explode occasionally. It's well worth the effort! There are lots of excellent YouTube videos that teach you all the ins and outs of this use friendly program. If you're a Cricut lover like I am and aren't familiar with all the fun tricks it has to offer, you should definitely take a peak.

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and be fabulous.

Nancy

Playing along with:

        Simon Says Wednesday Challenge

        Word Art Wednesday Challenge

        Glitter and Sparkle Challenge

        Crafty Gals Corner Challenge

        Cute Card Thursday Challenge

        

Looking Gorjuss in Lavender and Blue

I was reminded of how much I love these Gorjuss Girl stamps when I spotted a display of them at a stamping convention a couple of weeks ago and had to fight off an enthusiastic mob of ladies to buy the ones I wanted. After risking life and limb, I came home and discovered I had purchased one I already have!!! Oh well, we all  know how that goes.  I managed to buy some really cute new ones though, and I can't wait to start coloring.

While searching through my Gorguss images, I found this little girl that I had already colored and couldn't resist creating a quick card.  Lavender and blue is one of my favorite color combos and it was easy to find matching paper and embellies. I layered a Spellbinders die frame with a Lawn Fawn pierced oval die frame and attached my fussy cut image. My coordinating background paper is layered with a black striped panel and edged with a purple peel off sticker border. I also added purple peel off gem flowers to my little lady's hair, and the centers of the border flowers. (I found lots of colored Starform peel off stickers at the convention and now I'm obsessed with them.  I think eventually it might pass, but I do love them.)  I added a paper rose to the center my focal flower to make it fuller.  A little drop of stickles added to my flower with a paint brush was the final touch. Is a card really finished if it doesn't have a touch of glitter for punctuation... like a sentence?  Not in my world.

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and be fabulous.

Nancy 

Playing along with these challenges:

        Just Add Ink

        Sketch Saturday

        Crafty Creations

        Scrapy Land

Riley Blake Rag Lap Quilt - Embroidered Heart Detail

A beautiful pieced embroidered heart in the corner of this lap quilt is one way I can subtly tell my recipient I love her.  This machine embroidered heart is an Anita Goodesign design and I have "signed" several of my quilts this way.  One half of the heart is applique and the other half is a beautiful filigree pattern. I like the fact that the applique blends right into my quilt..

 

If I had to choose a fabric line that I'm drawn to the most, it would have to be Riley Blake Designs.  Her bright, whimsical designs always catch my eye.

"Quilt-as-you-go" rag quilts are simple and sew up so easily, they are my first choice for quick gifts.  But lately I'm getting in the mood to do some more detailed piecing with my ever growing stash. I'm excited to embark on an anniversary trip Scandinavia soon and I'm sure I will come home inspired to do some cozy, winter quilting. 

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and be fabulous.

Nancy

Laurel Burch Mermaid Side Step Card - Have a Magical Day.

I can't help being a little obsessed with coloring these fabulous Stampendous Laurel Burch stamps with my copics. They're so coloricious!  I couldn't wait to work on this beautiful mermaid stamp set and I decided it would be perfect for my daughter's birthday next month. Aren't we all a little fascinated with magical creatures like mermaids and unicorns?  I think my 30-something daughter will love it!

I used the bright Stampendous Laurel Burch copic pallet and added some gold glitter paper and Starform glitter stickers for accents to make my sea lady sparkle.  To my amazement, I created the side step file by myself in Cricut Design Studio.  My brain almost exploded but I finally got it right and now I can use the file to make other side step cards in a snap.  I even figured out how to size the insert pieces (with a lot of trial and error). It's not hard...it just takes a little perseverance.   The finished card measures 5" x 7".  The sun, cloud and waves are from the Cricut image library. I love that I can just type in "sun" or "waves" in the search bar and I get to choose from tons of images.  Since I have been a Cricut geek for many years I already have many purchased cartridges loaded in the library and with my added monthly subscription, I rarely have to buy an image.  The stamped greeting is one I found in my stash.  

I had the best time creating this ocean scene on my Cricut for my sparkly mermaid.  And as for having a magical day, as my sentiment suggests, I'd say most of the days I spend in my craft room are magical...even if it's just enjoying the miracle of a card turning out the way I would like it to. We crafters are blessed that way!

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and be fabulous.

Nancy.

Playing along with:

        Cupcake Inspirations

        The Fairy and the Unicorn

        Crafty Gals Corner
        Dare 2 B Artsy

        

        Creative with Stamps

Stampendous Laurel Burch Doggies - So Glad We're Friends!

  

What could be more fun than coloring these beautiful Laurel Burch images from Stampendous!  I think these doggies are absolutely adorable. There are several in the set and I had the best time auditioning the ones I wanted to stack for my focal image.  It was hard to pick just two but that's all I could fit.

Stampendous has published this helpful copic chart to help with the bright Laurel Burch pallet.  I must say,  the colors aren't the ones I would have picked right away, but they really work for the Laurel Burch look.   For the base of this card I used the Lori Whitlock center step SVG file and sized it as large as I could in Cricut Design Studio.   It measures about 5 1/2" by 5 1/2".  The layering panels are included in the file so it was very easy to cut the card stock pieces to fit  my background.. The sun is from the Cricut image library, sized to fit my center panel.   Gotta love Cricut Design Studio!!!  The grass is a die cut I had in my stash and the sparkly embellies are Starform Stickers.  I love using these stickers because they look like gems but they don't add bulk to my card for mailing. The cute butterfly is from the Laurel Burch cat set.

I'm going to make a few of these for my equally adorable and  colorful besties.

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and be fabulous.

Nancy

Playing along with:
        Through the Craft Room Door
        The Sisterhood of Crafters (I'm from sunny California)
        Time Out Challenges
        Addicted to Stamps
        The Crafty Addicts
        Color Throwdown

Sunny Rubber Ducky Rag Quilt - Baby Gift Set

I went treasure hunting in my fabric stash and discovered some super cute rubber ducky print flannel that I just knew would make the perfect snugly rag quilt for my friend's new baby boy.  I also unearthed some bright sunshine prints in coordinating colors.  Don't you love shopping in your own fabric hoard?

It only takes a couple of yards of designer fabric to sew up a rag quilt, especially if you back it with some solid flannel.

I already had some cute ducky peel off stickers from Elizabeth Craft in my stash, so I put them on some double stick tape, sprinkled on some microfine glitter and painted the adorable ducky with my copic markers.  You can see how I did it here.  I attached my image to an embellished flip card cut from a Sizzix die.  

Here's my fun gift all ready to wrap in a pretty bag. I think my duckies will make my new darling baby friend giggle. And I found almost all my materials in my own craft room. I'm going to have to shop there more often.

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and be fabulous.

Nancy

Penny Black Poetic Portraits Stamps - Copic Coloring

Coloring these beautiful Penny Black Poetic Portrait images with my copic markers takes me back to the days when I spent hours with my sweet friend, Pamela, drawing paper dolls and coloring them with crayons. We made dresses for them with tabs that bent over their shoulders to hold them in place and played with them for hours. Anybody else remember this?  I also loved drawing and coloring pretty faces. I still do it sometimes.  Maybe that's why I love make up so much.  

I'm absolutely in love with these gorgeous Penny Black images because they are already beautifully drawn for me and all I have to do is make them come alive.  I stamp them in Memento London Fog ink which softens the edges when I color them. They are simpler to color than they look, although the shading takes a little practice. On this image, to my great dismay, my copic marker dropped a big drop of blue ink onto my pretty lady's neck after I had almost finished coloring her. I know...disastrous! But it turned out to be a happy accident, as is often the case.  I was able to cover it up with some pretty flowers and a beautiful butterfly.  I die cut a Spellbinders frame in white to showcase my image and let my lady peak through from the back to show her flowing hair.  

I love these Penny Black images so much.  There are several and I have them all!  They have become my favorite thing to color. 

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and be fabulous.

Nancy

Playing along with:

        Penny Black Saturday Challenge       

        Aurora Wings Challenge

        Scrapy Land Challenge

        Word Art Wednesday 

        Always Fun Challenges

        Brown Sugar Challenge        

        Craft Rocket Challenges

        Stamping Sensations