Easter Checkers Game

I'm entering another of Dustin Pike's challenges and this week he has challenged us to make an Easter themed non-card project.  Oh I love non-card challenges but gosh Dustin, this one week time frame is killin me, LOL! 

I decided to make a checkers game for my 5 year old using some of his pre-colored images.  I used an Easter digi for the regular side of the checkers and then I used a different image on the other side and added a crown that I cropped out of yet another of his images to make the checker "Kings".  I was afraid that the checkers would be difficult to grasp so I decided to put a foam pop dot in between the front and back layers and this made them just thick enough to easily pick up. 

For the board I cut strips of two patterned papers and wove them together and then glued and zig zag stitched the edges.  I didn't think through the board design well enough beforehand because the checker part of the board ended up 12x12, so to make a mat border I had to cut strips of paper on the diagonal and then glue under the edges of each side and trim.  I kind of got stuck when it came time to find chip board the right size too, oops.  I used cardstock pieces to fill in under the entire board and it did turn out pretty sturdy but a 5yo is kinda tough on toys so we'll see how long it stays flat, LOL!

I also made a little box to put the checkers in and I used another Dustin digi that I added the text "Checkers" to on the banner.  This image is colored with my Bics and Copics and I added stickles and a bit of Diamond Glaze too.  There's also some stickles on the checkers.

My daughter has driven me crazy the last couple days asking if it was ready to play with yet, and I kept telling her that I had to finish it and take pictures first.  But when that time finally came - I was missing ONE checker!!!!  It appears that this morning my darling daughter could not resist stealing one of the checkers to play with when I wasn't looking.  She had misplaced it and it took 20 minutes to find it tucked inside one of her coloring books, yikes!  I guess I should have made extra checkers to begin with...  LOL!


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Dance in the Rain

Dustin Pike's challenge this week is to use his digis with a "Spring Showers" theme.  I wanted to do something different than a card and decided to make my daughter a small wall hanging for her room.  I used the same quote that I put in her high school yearbook when she graduated.  I love this quote.  Words to live by indeed.

It was fun doing a non-card project again, I miss that.  I was going to hang this in her room at home but she is stealing it for her dorm room instead and that is ok with me because that means she really likes it, yay!


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Out of This World

I told you I'd be playing with stair step cards again, LOL!!  This time it's a birthday card for my niece and I used TWELVE Dustin Pike images.  Oh this is addicting and was even more fun than the last one! 

I did the combo trick and used both my BICs and my Copics to color.  I spent lots of time fussy cutting and pop dotting everything for dimension including the eyes of the monsters which I also coated with Liquid Glass.  The space ship is my favorite part I think - his expression is just too stinkin funny!  I used Liquid Glass on the top of his ship and when I added the banner I curled the paper a bit to make it wavy.  The balloons were cut from patterned mirror paper with a Cuttlebug die and then I attached wire to them for the strings.  The "inside" of the card is again on the back so I made sure to pretty it up since it would be on display too.

When I went to assemble each step layer I thought I'd add a matted frame to each section which caused my card to be wider than the standard 6" and no longer square (need to plan better the next time!).  This made the envelope size tricky and I actually had to make a dimensional one too because this thing was way to thick to slip into a flat envelope.  Also, the whole thing ended up so heavy with all the layers that I had to add a tab underneath to connect the front and back to stabilize it and keep it upright.

Such a fun project, and the best part is that my niece really loved it when I gave it to her!  (ok, I'm secretly mumbling "rats!" because I was hoping I could steal it back, LOL!!)

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What is better than a Dustin Pike digi?

SEVEN OF THEM! 

I've been wanting to make a stair step card for a while and decided to finally try one for my mom's birthday card.  I knew I wanted to use one of Dustin Pike's new spring digi's so I could enter his challenge HERE, and then I decided to challenge myself  further and combine a bunch of them into a scene.  I ended up with ... count them: SEVEN! 

Dudley: FebDay24B
Background: TreeB
Flowers: BottomB
Rainbow and Sun: JanDay6B
Butterflies: vbflysb
Dragonfly: Dragonflya
Flower circle border: RingB

This was fun.  I mean really FUN!!  It is one of those projects that you start tinkering with and keep adding to and then when it is done you don't want it to be because you had so much fun in the process. 

I used my BIC markers and Copics together, sitckles and glossy accents, and I used foam to pop up Dudley, the dragonfly and the front sentiment.  The butterflies were printed on the background and then also printed and cut out separately so I could overlay them and pop up their wings.  The back sentiment is edged using the Martha Stewart Deco Shell punch around the page set (absolute  fave!!).  I fussy cut everything I could and it took quite a while but I love to do it so I didn't mind.  I put what would normally be the inside of a greeting card on the very back of the card.  To be sure it would stand up and not droop, I cut a strip and, running it under the entire card, I glued one end behind the first layer of flowers and then tucked the other end in between layers glued on the very back accordion piece (when I glued the greeting part to the back of the card I left a small opening on the bottom for this tab to tuck into).

I have to make another of these for myself now because it is taking every ounce of energy to pull my grubby paws off it to give it away, lol!  It certainly won't be my last stair step card!

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Two Birthday Cards

I have two sisters with birthdays today (twins) and one with a birthday on Thursday - three family birthdays in one week just should not be allowed, LOL!  So, unfortunately, but predictably, my cards to them will be late.  I mailed two of them today so at least the postmark is on time, lol!

I used some awesome Dustin Pike images, my BIC markers and my Copic markers.  I'm liking the Copics a bit more each time I use them, and loving my BICs every time.  I even played a bit with my blender to give the dinos and turtle some texture, loving that too!

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Copics and BICs

I'm still trying to get the hang of my new Copics, but when I was making this tiny note card I decided to use my BICs instead.  I really love all the 36 colors in my set, but even the pastels are pretty saturated so I decided to do a little teamwork between my BICs and my Copics. 

This worked great for me!  I was able to warm up a few areas by going over the BIC colors with my Copics, and I used the colorless blender to clean up one spot that got a little more outside the lines than I wanted.  

This may be the perfect way for me to ease into Copics and not get too discouraged!  :)

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Copics

If you know me, then you know that anytime somebody starts talking Copics that I put my fingers in my ears and start singing "la-la-la,  I caAAaan't heEEear yoUUuu!"  I do this because I know me, and my addictive personality, and if there are hundreds of colors available, then I would feel the 'need' for every one of them.  The less I knew about these markers the better.

But, funny thing about friends, and especially crafty friends, they feel the NEED to SHARE, and I've reluctantly learned enough about those Copic critters to finally cross the line and here are the newest additions to my crafting tools:

My LSS became a Copic retailer this summer, and after selling some unused items at their tag sale earlier this month I used my profits to invest in some basic shades to try using on my House Mouse and Hedgie stamps, along with a couple of greens, but I still need to get a red for some Christmas images I want to color.  My buddie Deb also sent me some pretty colors and the blender one - I really appreciate your kindness Deb, even though I still can't help thinking that you are trying to help get me hooked and drag me down with ya!  LOL! ;)

I'm practicing but stumbling alot with them, trying hard to figure out the highlight thing mostly.  Without an "Ah-Ha" breakthrough soon though I don't think these things will get me into too much trouble and I'll stick with just a couple dozen colors.  It has definitely given me a new appreciation for the talent of all of you that use them, I was an admirer before but now I am just totally amazed!

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