Some Odd Girl HOPS with Freckled Fawn!

YAY!  we've been waiting for this!  there's a HOP going on, and i'm glad you're here to join us!

It's a Freckled and Odd hop!

that's right!  Some Odd Girl and Freckled Fawn, together again!  we met these lovely ladies at CHA in January, and they were wonderful neighbors.  we had fun sharing the hall with them and it was very sad to say goodbye, but it was just for a little while.  :)

you should have arrived from Kristina's blog, but if you're just joining me randomly, it all starts HERE!

i have created a couple of sweet little things using Some Odd Girl stamps with Freckled Fawn embellies, because they really do go well together!  here we go!  this one uses the Hot Dog clear stamp set with Freckled Fawn's awesome Emoticon wood chip and the banner, vellum alphas and washi tape which can all be found in the April Oh Deer Me kit!  i colored/glittered them up a bit and added a few other little doo-dads:

my second card features some blue Bamboo Twine and the ridiculously cute new bunny and sentiment from the Hip Hop Hooray clear stamp set:

i also used Freckled Fawn's puffy stickers, arrow paper clip and heart washi tape (one of my faves!).  :)

now you're on your way to visit Brianna to see what she's cooked up for the occasion!  here's the full hop list in case you want to come back to it:

Freckled Fawn Blog

Mary Pat

Jo

Kristina

Leah

Brianna

Soraya

Judy

Alexis

Kristin

Melissa

Kristy

Adrienne

Some Odd Girl Blog

so there you have it, friends!  happy hopping, thanks for joining us, and don't forget to leave your comment below!  we'll announce our winners next Wednesday!

(added to the Mix Tape link party at Paper Issues - some SERIOUSLY fun washi tapes available!)

Happy, happy birthday, dear Cassie Box. You are LOVED.

it's a super sensational lady's birthday today, and the Paper Issues creative team is throwing her a party!

we'd love it if you dropped by the Paper Issues blog today to wish her a happy birthday!  there may be a little something extra fun and awesome going on.  :)  if you'd care to drop by the personal blog of the sassy Cassie Box and show a little love, that would be nifty, too.

in honour of your birthday, gorgeous girl, here's a little lurrrrrve:

LOTS of awesome Paper Issues goodies here, including the Studio Calico paper, Amy Tangerine stickers, Doodlebug Sprinkles vellum and enamel stickers, some pretty from The Twinery (not to mention stamps from the sponsor of our current issue over at the Paper Issues blog - Lawn Fawn!)... 

and because the lady of the hour (many hours, in fact) has a bit of a thing, i made a custom tag (hee hee)....

i hope you know how amazing you are, Cassie Box.  you have a HUGE family who adores you in this little internet neighbourhood of ours.  the world is a happier place with you in it! 

more of Sheena's lovely butterflies at Crafter's Companion!

hellooooooo chickens!  i'm headed for Washington, DC this morning and will be chaperoning a bunch of high school students for their chorus competition - wish me luck!  ;)  last year was Seattle (the OTHER Washington), and it was my first time going, both to Seattle and on the chorus trip.  it was AMAZING and there were so many fun things crammed into our stay!  while DC is much closer, i don't imagine i will have less fun!

today, i'm up on the Crafter's Companion USA Facebook page with a brand new card using the gorgeous Sheena Douglass sets - this one's from her A Little Bit Sketchy line and the set is called True Colors...

isn't the butterfly stunning?!  i colored it up using the following:

Spectrum Noir markers - CT1, PP1, PP2 in order to establish a base
Spectrum Noir blendable colored pencils - 005, 009, 024, 027, 028, 029, 031, 033, 071, 073, 093, 094, 111 and 116.

the butterfly and sentiment are both stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Ultra Smooth Premium White cardstock.  i also used the Petite Floral embossing folder (also by Sheena!) and inked it with Electric Yellow and Electric Coral Radiant Inks.  splattered with some Memento Fireworks spray in Bahama Blue, because it looks fab with the blue in the wings!

a few minimal embellies, and voila! 

i love the sentiment and think it's an awesome little message to someone in need of some encouragement - maybe someone going off to school, starting a new business endeavour, or taking a big leap to try something new.  regardless, LOVE IT.  and have i mentioned how much i am loving these Sheena butterflies?  :)

the Paper Issues "Swag Bag"

have you heard of this little phenomenon yet?  there's a thing.  it's awesome.  it's called a Swag Bag, and i'm kind of obsessed with it.  see, every month, the brilliant Cassie Box swirls these ideas around in her head to compile a group of embellishments that may or may not actually GO together, then she turns them into a bag of fabulosity and sells them for an awesomely low price at her store, Paper Issues.

i've received a few such bags, and each month i get excited when i know the new one is in the works.  the, suddenly, PRESTO!  magic in my mailbox.

here's the card i made using a whole wonderful SLEW of items from my April Swag Bag...  literally everything (save for the patterned paper, which is Pink Paislee Color Wash) came from my little bag o'happy:

what do i love most?  the Doodlebug Sprinkles Vellum?  the cork die-cut?  the red and white baker's twine from The Twinery?  the Be Different stickers from Fancy Pants?  the WOODGRAIN SEQUINS?  the wood veneer geotag?  heck, i dunno.  i know i love it all, and i espesh love it all TOGETHER.

amazingly, even though i FEEL like i've used a ton of stuff on this card, there is SO much left in the kit!  know what that means?  it means that i have a TON of awesome goodies that still remain and i can make more pretties.  know what's crazier?  the May Swag Bag is already in the shop and available to buy!  LOOK:

 
mine will be in my hot little hands soon, and i can't wait to bust it out and show you more!  those little Cosmo Cricket stickers have been on my wish list for a LONG TIME, and now you can grab them HERE!

so there you have it.  subscribe.  you'll get 'em before everyone else.  and use my code ORANGE to save 20% off your Swag Bag EVERY TIME, not to mention the 20% off everything else in your cart.  yep.  absolutely everything.  you're very welcome!  :)

and if you CLICK HERE you'll be able to visit the shop or the blog for the newest releases or the most recent link party!  there's some Lawn Fawn stampy swag up for grabs if you link up for our Pitch Perfect issue!

it's a SHEENA DOUGLASS HOP at Crafter's Companion!

WELCOME!  the brand new (utterly stunning) Sheena Douglass "A Taste of India" release is NOW.  we are HOPPING!  we've been waiting for this day, and it's finally here!

we've shared lots of sneak peeks over the last week and these gorgeous new stamp sets AND embossing folders (!!!) are all available NOW at Crafter's Companion!

there are 8 prizes to be won.  EIGHT!  so be sure to comment at each of the blogs to maximize your chances to win, and you have until Monday, April 21st at midnight EDT to get in on the action!  winners will be announced on Tuesday at the Crafter's Companion US blog.

if you've arrived here from Giovana's blog, you're well on your way (with only a few more stops to go!)...  if you've randomly arrived, that's great too!  but here's our full hop list, just in case:

Crafter's Companion US Blog

Kendra Wietstock

Allie Gower

Chrissie Tobas

Christiana Reuling

Jenn Cochran

Jennifer Ingle

Laurel Beard

Mary Dawn Quirindongo

Tenia Nelson

Trena Brannon

Wendy Price

Stephanie Severin
Annette Allen

Giovana Smith

Leah l'Orange (you are here, natch!)
Lori Barnett

Roxanne O'Brien

Swarup Murthy

the Inspiration and Education Teams have rocked out some seriously amazing creations to showcase this beautiful new line, and i've got a card for ya!

i LOVE Indian patterns and all the gorgeous bright colors they incorporate into the designs, so this fabulous image from the Henna Mango set really grabbed me.  the trim on the bottom is from the Mandala set - everything works so wonderfully together, you'll want them all!  i shared my first sneak for A Taste of India on Saturday, so click here to see several of these new sets in action!

zoom on my card!

i love the little details!  i combined my Spectrum Noir markers and Spectrum Noir blendable colored pencils using the following:

Markers: LY2, LY3, OR2, CR7, PP3, BP2, BP4, BT3, BT5, TB5, CG1, CG2
Pencils: 008, 026, 030, 038, 061, 066, 088

the images were stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Ultra Smooth Premium White cardstock and i went for clean and simple for maximum POP! 

so JOIN US in celebrating this fantastic new release at Crafter's Companion from the brilliant and talented Sheena Douglass by HOPPING!  enjoy the eye candy, and thanks for visiting!

 

Far away for Addicted to CAS

my first time playing along at Addicted to CAS (i'm a HUGE fan of THIS GIRL's blog, and i just saw that she joined their fabulous team!).  i LOVE the inspiration spattered all over their page! 

the challenge is "Far away" and it instantly made me think of my Gram, who's been gone for several years now but remains my favourite person in the world.  i moved 500 miles away from her when i married my husband, but she was, and is, in my heart in everything i do. 

a sympathy card was born, for someone mourning the loss of a loved one

this may be the absolute cleanest and simplest i've ever created, to be honest.  but the birds were exactly what i needed and i just couldn't add anything else to the card. 

there's some amazing inspiration on the Addicted to CAS blog - i think it might be a regular spot for me to visit when i'm lacking in the mojo department!

we're PITCH PERFECT with Lawn Fawn at Paper Issues!

new link party at Paper Issues!

the theme for this link party at Paper Issues is "Pitch Perfect"...  there's SO much fun to be had with this theme!  music, chorus, camping (pitching tents!), baseball, what you consider perfection, a perfect day, a sales pitch/commercial, quotes from the movie, throwing something, pitching a FIT/tantrum, etc...  LOADS of room for interpretation!

we are sponsored by the fabulous Lawn Fawn, so we Paper Issues girls had some fun working with one of their new stamp sets, "Stay Tuned", which happens to be the prize that's up for grabs, too!  so you can also link up any project using Lawn Fawn products!

so...  my hubbin and i have a band (although we've been on hiatus for a while), and i jumped at the chance to do a music layout using a particularly hipster-looking photo that i took in Seattle last spring.  here's my page:

and there is a TON of Paper Issues product on there.  a TON.  my papers, the vellum, the little chevrons, the hipboard (chipboard), the little title and all kinds of awesomeness from various Swag Bags. 

zoom!

stars!  i totally have a thing for stars.  and i can't get enough of the Doodlebug Sprinkles Vellum.

one more zoom!  this is how our music has been described - consider this our "genre"...

be sure to "like" our awesome sponsor on Facebook by CLICKING HERE, and drop by their blog for loads of inspiration...  oh, and FYI, they have a really fun YouTube channel and are always sharing fun, new ideas, so check it out!  here's the stamp set!

link on up and get in on the action!  and ohhhh, if you're feeling inclined to do a bit of shoppin', you might find some new things in the Paper Issues store, like this:

the new Webster's Pages stuff is HOT, people!  those little lightbulbs are killin' me!  :)  jump on it before it's gone, and don't forget the discount!

Sneaks of Sheena and India and Spectrum Noir!

hey there chickens!  did you see the big EVENT going on at Crafter's Companion right now?!  we're promoting an upcoming Sheena Douglass release that could, quite possibly, be my favourite ever.  yeah, i know i've said that before.  ;)

the new sets are from Taste of India, and they will take your breath away!  Sheena has outdone herself with this gorgeous new art, and i'm super pleased to share my card...

this is "Marching Elephant" - the image...  but i've also added the sentiment from "Tiger Tiger" and accents from "Henna", "Henna Mango" and "Mandala" to show how awesome all of the sets work together.  are they not AMAZING?!

my Marching Elephant is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Ultra Smooth Premium White cardstock, and coloured with Spectrum Noir markers AND blendable pencils...  here's what i used:

Spectrum Noir markers:
elephant - BGR2, BGE3, GG1, GG2
tusks/hooves - FS2, GG1
blanket/flowers - OR1, OR2, GT1, GT2, DR5, DR6, PL2, PL3

Spectrum Noir colored pencils:
shading/texture (elephant) - 114
shading (blanket) - 097

just pencils for a bit of added texture and depth, but you'll see more of them in upcoming projects!  the background was made with a stencil and i inked some Electric Orange and Electric Purple Radiant Neon inks...  here's a little zoom:

(okay, a big zoom)...  LOVE this elephant.  and i need to get the tiger coloured up too, because he's just beautiful!  CLICK HERE to check out the rest of the sneak peeks on the Crafter's Companion blog (we're featuring this new set all week - starting yesterday!) and see what my utterly talented teammates have done!

one more for the road:

and i love it.  clean and simple design (for a change!) and some gorgeous Sheena Douglass, coming soon!!

Sheena has these lovely FLOWERS at Crafter's Companion!

told you i like my Sheena Douglass stamps!  

i'm up on the Crafter's Companion Facebook page today with a new card, and it's all about Sheena!  this gorgeous flower comes from another of her new sets from the A Little Bit Sketchy line - the set is called Bloomin' Beautiful (the sentiment comes from Only Words - Through the Rain) and i'm kinda LOVING this card...

i used a bunch of things i don't typically use, including some Smooch ink, those paper flowers, some Ranger liquid pearls and those AWESOME gold hexagon sequins...  the rest are basic staples (the doily, vellum and loads of pop dots!).

the Sheena flower is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Ultra Smooth Premium White cardstock and colored with my Spectrum Noir markers:

flower center - LY1, OR1
petals - CR1, CR7, CR10

the sentiment is also stamped with Tuxedo Black, and the flower is shaded with colored pencil (coming soon!).

so, no, this is NOT my typical style, but i love how it turned out!  there's a shabby/gritty feel while still being feminine and (i hope) kind of elegant at the same time.

and from another angle, to show the yummy gold:

pop over to the Crafter's Companion store to see the new stuff (more Sheena coming next week, and i can't WAIT to share!), and if you haven't already checked out the new StazOn midi inks and the Radiant Neons, what are you waiting for?!

hopping with the Unity team today - check out the new {be inspired} challenge!

oh, folks, can i just tell you how utterly thrilled i am to be joining in the Unity blog hop today?  my "blessings" card was chosen as last month's {be inspired} winner, and not only did i get to choose a bunch of AMAZING stamps as my prize, but i am part of the fun hop today where YOU could win some amazing stamps, too!

welcome!  so glad you've made it to The Chronicles, and i hope you're enjoying the hop so far (you should have started at the Unity blog) - the creativity along this hop is FABULOUS and i am sure you'll be inspired to use your stamps in different ways and maybe to try some new techniques!  are you hopping?  it's a party over here, and i'm so excited to be a guest!  :)  leave some love along all the hop stops, and you could be one of the lucky winners!

SO!  there's a brand new challenge...

and to say that i was inspired would be an understatement!  here's what i made to join in the fun...

this one, using the "Matching Socks" Itty Bitty - it

follows the card sketch and the colors (plus a few extras!):

and this one, that actually follows the scrapbook sketch and the color challenge - this one uses "Where You Should Be" which was one of my choices for my prize... i LOVE this set (the sentiment and the green flower silhouettes on that panel come from it):

and there you have it.  i AM inspired by the Unity {be inspired} challenge!  happy hopping, and don't forget to comment along the way - you could win something seriously awesome, and hey, we ALL want to be winners, right?  :)  have a great day, chickens! 

***linked up at Paper Issues for "The World is a Circle" - new issue sponsored by Ruby Rock-it - love the wood button and quirky circles i used on my sock card!***

thanks a LATTE, my sweet and ODD friend!

did you catch it?  i have a cute and sweet little card up at the Some Odd Girl blog today, showing off stamps from 2 separate clear sets that happen to go PERFECTLY together...

check out my card featuring Breakfast Friends (the coffee cup) and Hipster Mae (the sentiment)!

my little cuppa is colored up with my pencils, natch:

and i added in some gorgeous Crate Paper "Love Notes", as well as that yummy burlap trim (which i inked to make it more coffee-ish) and wood dots from My Mind's Eye.  grab those by CLICKING HERE and feel free to take advantage of my discount code ORANGE to get 20% off your total purchase.  :)

if you create ANYTHING this month using Some Odd Girl stamps, be sure to join our little linky party (in the right sidebar of the blog) and you might be spotlighted or you could win stuff!  

the OAK from Crafter's Companion!

you've seen me use this stamp before - it has SUCH a presence on a card, and the sentiments are simple but LOVELY.

here's my new card for Crafter's Companion today, featuring Sheena's A Little Bit Sketchy - "The Majestic Oak":

nice and simple, this one, but with a stamp this big, it does all the talking!  all i needed to add (or had room for!) were a sentiment, and little backing panel and a couple of little pearls.

The Majestic Oak and sentiment (from same set) are stamped with Memento Luxe ink (Espresso Truffle) - have you tried these inks?  they're all the fab colours of Memento with lots of juice on a cushier inkpad.  PERFECT for covering large areas and for sponging backgrounds and such.  it's a thicker formula and i'm rather smitten!  check out the whole range of colors HERE!

drop by the Crafter's Companion Facebook page to see this one and all the other gorgeous creations from the Inspiration and Education teams - there are SO many products to show off, so we're constantly sharing there!

the new Angelica and Adam series at Crafter's Companion is ADORABLE!

oh my.  there's another new release at Crafter's Companion, and the design team has been keeping busy and having LOTS of fun with the new stamps!  this particular set is perfect for the little chicas and the little dudes in your life (whether they're genuinely little ones or they're big, grown-up ones!). 

i love these new Angelica and Adam EZmount stamp sets, and i couldn't wait to color up the adorable Ben!  

here's my card that's up on the Crafter's Companion Facebook page today!

so where do i begin with this one?
stamped Ben and the sentiment with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Ultra Smooth Premium White cardstock.
embossed the small side panel with Darice Stars 12" folder (and colored the stars with BGR1)
inked around the edges of my panels with StazOn midi in Cactus Green (they're new and they're FABULOUS!) and Delicata Golden Glitz inks.
and COLORED!  yeah, i spent a bit of time on the details for this one...

i dotted, blended, dotted, blended, dotted, blended and continued until i achieved an effect i really liked.  in hindsight, i wish i had thought of shadows under Ben, but next time, i guess.  :)  

anywho, there you have it!  close-up?

 

here's my Spectrum Noir marker list:

skin - FS5, FS7, FS9
hair - TN2, OR1, OR2, EB4, EB7
shirt - LG1, LG4, GD3
shorts - IG2, IG4, IG5
shoes - BG1, BG4, BG5
tree - TN2, EB6, EB7
leaves - DG2, DG3
rope - GB1, GB8
background - BGR1, BGR2, LY1, DG1, GB1, OR1, TB3, CG2, JG1, Blender

closer?

 
whatcha think?  isn't he a cute little thing?  you can grab Ben and his friends by CLICKING HERE, and i TOTALLY encourage you to take a peek at all the new, amazing inks that are in the shop now!  seriously - the StazOn Midis and the new Radiant Neons are FANTASTIC!

 

SOME ODD GIRL 2014-15 DESIGN TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT!

it's TIME!

we've all been anxiously awaiting this time, and it's FINALLY HERE!  it's not a joke, either, so you're gonna want to hop on over to the Some Odd Girl blog to meet the new Odd Girls! 

we are announcing in SIX PARTS, beginning NOW!  visit at 8, 10 and 12 today and tomorrow (Eastern time) as we WARMLY welcome our digi and clear teams and kick off what's going to be an AWESOME and INSPIRING term!  there's a ton of fun stuff on the horizon for Some Odd Girl, and we hope you'll be joining us for the ride!  :)