Hey pumpkin!

Hey Pumpkins! How is your week shaping up? Things here are good -- the leaves are starting to turn and fall here creating quite the pretty scene! Autumn has arrived! And with autumn, Torico over at Birdie Brown ushered in a darling freebie image to get you all ready for the change of seasons! You can see her new image and download it HERE. 

And... here's my take on it!

Before I forget, the challenge over at Birdie Brown is to print this off and use it on a creation and then... link up on her post HERE to be in the running for three free images. Fun stuff!

I started by printing the image on Flourishes Classic White and then... I grabbed my Copic markers and went to town. I had a blast coloring up this little guy --- who wouldn't? I mean, isn't he the cutest thing? (See the list below for the Copic colors that I used) After I colored him up, I did use some white gel pen to add some accents. Mat it all on some kraft card stock and some Echo Park Reflections Fall paper and you're almost done! I added a border thanks to a Martha Stewart punch and then I added a wooden button and some fun jute twine. Ta da! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Here's a close up!

And that, my friends, is it! If you have never colored up digi stamps before, you really should travel over to Birdie Brown and see all that Torico has on her blog and in her Etsy shop -- too cute for words! I am a fan (as you can see by all my recent Birdie Brown cards). Sadly, she is going to be closing up shop at the end of November. I am so sad! So, I know I will be stocking up on images before it is too late. Check out what she's got to offer -- it's all good stuff!

Thanks for stopping by! See you back here soon!

~Julie

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A Boo-tiful Card for a Saturday!

Hi all! I had a little something fun to share today in between softball games and football games! Yes, with active kids, you have to steal the time when you can get it!! :-) If you stop by my blog from time to time, you might have heard me rave about Birdie Brown and all the fun over on her blog HERE. She has digital stamp releases and once a month, she offers a free image with a challenge. If you use her image and are randomly chosen with the challenge, you win three digi stamps of your choice. So, how could I refuse that offer?

You can find this month's freebie and challenge HERE.

And... here is my creation!

This card is as easy as printing it off, coloring it up with Copic Markers -- I used V04, V06, V09, YR04, YR07, YR08, YR18, YG21, YG23, Y32, Y35 and then accented my little pumpkins and B with a white gel pen. You can see I also added some shading underneath thanks to C00, C03, and C05. Mat it thanks to a Spellbinders Wonky Rectangle, some foam tape, a loopy brad that a threaded with some fun orange and black gingham ribbon. the paper was some old K and Company Halloween paper that I had. The punch is a Martha Stewart punch that I sponged with some Brilliance Moonlight White ink. And last, but not least, the background was accented with the help of a Stampin' Up Spider Web embossing folder that I embossed and then sanded. 

Want to see a close up of these darling little pumpkins? So cute!  

And that, my friends, is it! If you've never gone over to Birdie Brown's site, you really need to -- darling images there!

Hope you all have a fun and relaxing weekend! I'll see you back here soon!

~Julie

Rock On!

Hi all and happy Wednesday! This week feels like it's FLYING by and in part, it is thanks to the Labor Day weekend. ;-)

I thought today I would share a little craftiness that I whipped up to send to the Cards 4 Kids program! It seems like I am sharing a card weekly now and honestly, it is all from my coloring spree last month. I STILL have colored images from Birdie Brown Digital Stamps to share that have not yet made it into cards! That's the fun part. I will probably be creating... for months!

I used a freebie from the site to whip up this one and you can find it HERE. Isn't this Rockin' Doggie cute? LOVE it!

I had a fun paper pad from Basic Grey called Fact that I used for my card. The smiling stars were from a little gift bag I got and thought it would be fun to throw that in! This card is really super simple in it's design -- some staggered layered rectangles, a die cut circle that was matted, some paper piercing, a sentiment flag and some bling! That's it!

And here's a close up of the doggie that I colored up with Copic Markers. I used R24, R29, W00, W01, W03, BG000, BG0000, BG01, Y35, Y38, YR18, E50, E51, E53, E25, E27, E29. Add a little glitter to the star and head phones and... ta da!!

So, another card goes in the stack for my mom's Card 4 Kids program. If you ever want to read up on it, I always love to share the link. You can email her any time if you would like to help in her mission. I know she always loves cards at the time of Valentine's Day when the hospital does a big drive to get the kiddos healing there some love in the form of a card!

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back soon with a little more creativity to share! 

~Julie

Another card for a kiddo!

Hi all and happy Tuesday! I have been on a kick lately to create some kid cards for my mom's Card 4 Kids ministry and today... I have a lemon that I tried to mix into lemonade! ;-)

On to my card!

I'll start by saying that this little robot is one of Birdie Browns and you can find him HERE! Now, you might look at my image and say... "What's up with that? It started like this....

So, you can imagine my distress when I went to die cut this little guy and my die moved, causing him to accidentally lose his little robot legs! EEK! That's where the making lemonade out of lemons comes into play! I decided to make it appear as if my little guy was peeking out of a tunnel. I used my Copic markers and picked up C00, C01, C03, C05 and C07 and just progressively got lighter as I moved toward the center.  After I was done coloring, I matted onto a larger circle cut from decorative red paper and then, added my sentiment with some fun screw style brads.I did add some paper piercing and a little silver leaf around one of the decorative paper edges. And that, my friends, is it! 

Here's a close up!

So this little guy will go in the Cards 4 Kids stack and hopefully make a little guy smile as he is recovering in the hospital. If you want to read up about my mom's mission to send smiles to the children at Children's Hospital of Michigan, just click HERE! 

Hope you are having a fabulous Tuesday! I have some more creative things up my sleeve and will be back to share.... SOON! Happy stamping!

~Julie

Another one for Cards 4 Kids!

Not too long ago, I shared a new find that one of my friends, Christine Okken shared with me -- Birdie Brown Digital Stamps.  Just like most things, when I see something I like -- I have to dive in. That day I think I downloaded a dozen images and spent the last weeks just coloring them up! So, I'll share a card here and a card there and ALL will go to my mom's Cards 4 Kids program, which donates cards to kids recovering and being treated at Children's Hospital of Michigan.

Ok.. ready to see the latest creation?

I have to admit, this is a CASE of one of Torico's own cards! My style is a wee bit different. You'll have to click HERE and see! That link is also where you can download this free image! I printed the image out, colored it up with the Cool Neutrals Copic Collection (Flourishes) and then accented my little dolphin guy with a white gel pen. The "waves" were created just cutting decorative paper into those free-form shapes. Punch the sentiment with a 1-1/4" circle punch. Mat it up on a punched decorative orange scallop, add some paper piercing and... almost done! I did cut out my dolphin and pop him up using foam tape. If you look at Torico's card -- she had some fun rhinestones added on the waves. I thought I would keep those off since these cards were for little kids. I just had a nightmare about maybe a little one picking them off and trying to eat them! ;-) 

Here's a close up of the 'fin-tastic' dolphin!

And that, my friends, is it! Super fun, super easy, super cute for kids! Hope your week is off to a great start! I'll see you all back here soon!

~Julie

Let the fun begin!

Last weekend, I told you about my day of complete coloring. Well, some of you said -- "You have to show us the finished results!" Well, here I am! I've got one card set aside for my mom's Cards 4 Kids ministry with more to come!

I just LOVE these little monsters over at Birdie Brown's site! You can find them  HERE  in her Etsy Store-- and they are digital downloads, which is a new thing for me! I just loved grabbing bright colors of markers and going to town! I wish I could tell you which Copic markers I used - I didn't pay attention on my coloring spree but just kept grabbing different shades to fill in different areas. I know I used a ton in the BG range (BG000, BG01, BG05) the lighter YG (YG06, YG03, YG00 and YG0000) range and, of course, lighter shades in the V range (V0000, V01, V04, V06). The layout is rather simple -- a die cut oval paired up with a printed out sentiment, a large Stampin' Up button, some twine and a Martha Stewart border punch. Just that easy! 

Here's a close up of these cute as can be monsters! 

I have two more images colored of this trio, so the fun will be coming up with new layouts for these guys! Hope your Tuesday is going well! I'll see you back here soon!

~Julie

My Coloring Marathon!

It's not every day that you can just set aside a whole day to do nothing but chill and color. Well, I declared Friday color 'til your fingers fall off day and I had such a blast just listening to music, sipping a little coffee --- just me, some darling images and, of course, my Copic markers! (My daughter joined in on the fun too and did up her own creations sitting next to me -- good times!)

Recently, I had the pleasure of getting together with some of the gals from Flourishes (photos coming soon) and Christine showed me some of the fun images she was working with -- an artist that I had never heard of! You can find Torico's images HERE at Birdie Brown. Her images are all digital, which my impulsive side loves and once a month, she even offers a free image or two with a challenge! How cool is that? Here's just a glimpse at what I colored up!

Isn't this robot guy darling???

I thought this little bear with a beret was sweet!

Love the whimsical feel of these tweeties!

This image was my darling daughter's fave....

I loved this monster image below so much, I did it up twice! On the purple one I colored mainly using dots in three different shades of purple....

Then, for the blue one, I colored it up with two shades of blue and then removed color with my Copic Blender Pen... 

I had to do a second one of the rockin' doggie too -- this image makes me SMILE!

And this image is just fun for birthdays!

So there you have it... my day of coloring til the fingers fall off (which they didn't -- still have all ten!) What will be fun now is finding ways to put cards together for all of these. I plan to do up most, if not all, for my mom's Cards 4 Kids ministry.   I figure the kiddos would love images like this!

Hope your weekend is off to a great start -- see you back here soon!

~Julie