Christmas in February

You say, “Christmas again!” Hey, it’s still snowing everywhere, why not?

Seriously, let the fun begin! This is my first blog hop and this is your second stop if you started at the top. If you want to start at the beginning just go to our blog Magnolia-licious Christmas All Year Long. There should be a list of every one participating.

The next participant is Barb Hardeman. Be sure and check out her Christmas creation and blog. And, I want to say thanks to Barb for sending me the link to the tutorial on making easel cards. THANKS, BARB! She’s right...I am hooked on this design. It really adds something to the finished piece. The easel card would be great for Mother’s Day cards.

If you like Magnolia rubber stamps check out Diana’s online store. And talk about service, they are tops. They are also taking pre-orders on the Hoppy Easter Collection. Hop on over and check out all the new designs.

This is not only a blog hop for me. I am also participating in three challenges. They are:
Papertake Weekly Challenge #35 is this sketch

Magnolia Down Under challenge is to make an easel card;

Cooking it up with Katie’s challenge is something girly, paper piecing, and using two designer papers;

And Cute Card Thursday's challenge is ribbon.

Now my creation.

I used the stamps Tilda with Christmas Cracker and Poinsettia. Isn’t she adorable. I have never been one for cuteness in my art, but I am having so much fun with my cute and whimsical phase. They are also a lot of fun using Copics.

Other supplies are: distress inks in Walnut Stain, Peeled Paint, and Fired Brick, wire ribbon, paper poinsettia, The Wizard with dies, stickers, flat back pearls, scrapbook paper from Stampin’ Up!, gel and spica pens, Copic Markers, foam tape for the dimension.



These are the Copics I used.

If you have any questions or you just want to contact me email me at ajsdesigns@cox.net.

Thanks for hopping over. Now check out Barb’s art work.

Aletha

Tiptoeing through the Poppies

Hello again and Happy Sunday!

This newsletter is going to be short, I promise.

I have entered three challenges with this cutie. The challenges are:
Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge #41;

The Play Date Café Challenge #16;

Cute Card Thursday Challenge #100-Metal Mania;

Pile it on with flowers Challenge #6; and
Totally Gorguss Challenge #18-Flower Power.

The stamp is called Poppy Fields from Funky Kits. I love these Sugar Nellie Stamps.

The Copics that I have used are: E00, E13, RV21, E02, V06, V12, V09, R29, YG95, YG97, T1, T3, 110BLACK. Spica pens were Red, Lavender, and Silver.

Other supplies and embellishments are cardstock and scrapbooking paper from Stampin’ Up! and Enveloper Inc. I have used silver charms and paper flowers. Some of the paper flowers I painted with Shimmerz. I really like using the Shimmerz. It stiffens the paper and you keep the embossing on the flowers. Also, distress ink in Aged Mahogany (love that color) and Memento Tuxedo Black are used.


This last picture is the inside. I have left plenty of writing room.

If you have any questions please contact me at ajsdesigns@cox.net. Thanks for stopping by and have a good week!

Aletha

Friends are flowers and a Timeless Tuesday

Hope everyone is having a great week! Mine is real busy. Tomorrow is my husband’s 59th Birthday and I still need to shop and finish his card. And on Sunday Feb. 21st, all of my family comes over to celebrate the January and February birthdays. I think I am going to fix chili. The perfect compliment to this weather. I keep telling myself that spring is almost here. It will at least be 50° tomorrow. I think that’s when I will do my shopping. It’s just too cold to shop today.

Speaking of spring…I have created the card below for several challenges. The first two challenges are for Any Stamp Will Do. This is a fairly new online group and we would love for you to join. And spread the word, please. I am a Design Team Member, so you will be seeing my creations on a weekly basis now. I belong to two groups on Any Stamp Will Do. One is Sketch Challenge Mondays and the other is The New Color Challenge.

The Sketch Challenge layout is below.

This is my rendition.

And the colors are gray and orange and the embellishments were to be yellow and red for the Color Challenge. I hope I passed.

The third challenge was for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge. Their challenge was very simple…”Do something that ROCKS your world.” All of my friends and family is what rocks my boat today. Oh, and of course copics markers.

I started this project trying not to use rubber stamps. Who was I fooling? Rubber stamps are my favorite tool and I’ve got plenty of them. The two stamps I used are from Flourishes. The background stamp is from their Birds and Vines Set #38 (I stamped it on the back also) and the sentiment is from their Nasturtiums Set #51. They are gorgeous!

And before I forget…the Copics I used are Y02, Y35, YR15, R14, R27.

If you need further information or you have questions, please don’t hesitate contacting me at ajsdesigns@cox.net.

Thanks so much for stopping by and Happy Stamping!

Aletha

Just how many strays did you bring home?

Thanks for stopping by! Tilda with her found kitty is the purrrr…fect way to say Happy Mother’s Day (sorry, I had to do it). I brought plenty of strays home growing up. Now, in the prime of my life, my kids call me “The Crazy Cat Lady.” I will always have a cat, or two, or three. And I will always have dogs. Any way, I ramble on.

This card is for two challenges. The first is a sketch challenge for Sketch Challenge Monday on Any Stamp Will Do. Also for a color challenge with Magnolia Down Under. The colors were greys and pinks. I have probably missed the color challenge deadline. I forgot about the time difference, but I am going to try and post no matter what. There’s also a clock on their site, duh!


I have colored “Tilda with kitty” with Copic Markers. The colors I have used are:
Skin: E00, E02, E13, RV 21;
Hair: E13, E17, E19;
Sweater & Socks:RV21, RV69, RV34;
Skirt & Shoes: TI, T3, 110 (black);
Kitty: E31, E71, E25, RV21, RV6.


Other supplies and accessories are Spellbinders flower die, glitter, tatting, cardstock and scrapbooking paper from Stampin’ Up!


Also, I just received a few more Tilda’s from Diane’s online store. Yeah!!! She has a wonderful supply and she is also taking preorders for the new ones coming out soon.


Enjoy! And have a good weekend!

Aletha

Gotta Love the Bunny!

With this little creation I am entering three challenges. These sites are first-timers for me.

The challenges are:
Creativity Challenge #15 at The Play Date Café;

Monday Sketch Challenge #124 at MoJo Monday;

and, Spots and Dots challenge #98 at Cute Card Thursday.


I so hope this passes for the Monday Sketch Challenge. When I started out everything was going fine until I realized that the main image is hiding the sketch design. Just take a closer look and you can see the sketch (maybe squint). The Play Date Café Creativity Challenge is with color and I feel like I hit that okay. The beautiful color combination was chosen by Sandi, a retiring member of Play Date’s Design Team.

This is my first Tilda that I have colored with Copics and to actually finish a piece. I tend to color a lot of the images and then let them set. These little angels are perfect for Prismacolors and Copics.

I purchased “Tilda with bunny” several months ago from Diana, a US-based online store of Magnolia stamps. In my opinion…Diana’s store and customer service is top notch.

In this picture I am trying to show you my work with the Copics and all the paper punch work.

Take a look at these MAGNOLIA-licious blogs. They have a few challenges you may be interested in. Here’s the list of a few blogs that have caught my attention: MAGNOLIA-licious Highlites; MAGNOLIA-licious; MAGNOLIA-licious Christmas All Year Long. There is also a MAGNOLIA-licious Yahoo group you can join.

Thanks for coming by again. Hop on over to the blogs that I have mentioned and take a look at what other talented artisans are creating. I hope everyone has a fabulous week of creating!

See you soon,
Aletha

Challenge #41 for The Sweet Stop

Hello again! This is my third sketch challenge to enter. I don’t see me slowing down either. This challenge is for The Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge Blog (my first time to enter with this site). Go check it out, get inspired, and join in the fun. I know I am. These challenges are really keeping me on my toes. And I am creating something about every other day.

This little cutie is titled “Thinking of you”. The image is from a Miss Anya collection purchased from Die Cuts R Us.


The Copic Markers I have used are:
Hair: E13, E17, E19;
Skin: E00, E02, E21, RV21;
Dress: R14, R27, RV000, BV00, R59;
Bows & Shoes: R14, R59.
I have also used Spica Pens in Red and Clear.

Go to The Sweet Stop and check out all the other participants and their eye candy.
Thanks for stopping by! See you again in 2-4 days.