limits, inspiration, and color swatch for Some Odd Girl!

sometimes limiting oneself can have WONDERFUL effects, especially when one feels overwhelmed with the amount of crafty things in one's stash.  ;)

today, i'm up on the Some Odd Girl blog with some inspiration for you!

i surprised myself by playing along with part one of Kristy's Color Swatch Journal for May!  she's thrown down the Copic color BG23 or equivalent Spectrum Noir color GT2, and invited all our crafty friends to share their blendy combos to see what we can come up with!  since i'm a Speccie girl, i went for the GT2 and instead of sticking within the GT family, i went with BT2 (which was much lighter for my base) and BT6 (which is a step darker than i might normally choose to blend).  my challenge was to limit myself to just 3 markers and try to rock some monochromatic coloring. 

enter our gorgeous Coy Kaylee digi stamp - she's one of my absolute faves!  the simple outfit helped with this "challenge" because i didn't face the struggle of aiming for more depth than i might be able to achieve with just 3 markers.  you can always layer on top of color once everything is dry, but after too much saturation, there tends to be a mottled effect and i really wanted to avoid that.

here's my card, featuring sentiment from our Birthday Mae clear stamp set, Sunshine Sorbet paper, and Hexie Dots wood veneers:

 

whatcha think?  is she looking a little sickly, or is the combo fun?  i've played around with pink and blue monochromatic coloring (and, of course, grey tones), but this is the first time i've ventured into the green family (aside from hair colors) and i wasn't sure as i was going along.  in the end, i'm pretty content with it, and now i'm anxious to try the other Color Swatch Journal prompts!  have you checked it out before?  CLICK HERE to see what i'm talking about!

here's a (slightly) closer view of my girl:

and i may just try this one again soon!  tomorrow's Friday - any plans for the weekend?  apparently The Son has a lunch or dinner thing in mind for us on Sunday (it's Mother's Day here in the U.S.), so i have a little quality time to look forward to.  in the meantime, i'll be back Saturday with a super fun event you won't want to miss!

Some Odd Girl's fond farewell blog hop!

Hello, Odd friends, and welcome to Some Odd Girl‘s Fond Farewell blog hop for the 2014-15 Design Team!

The Odd Girls have had a VERY exciting year, with lots of fun events, new shop items we fell in love with, a great presence at CHA, and a whole ton of fun new releases to color and share!  We are grateful for the friendships made, the amazing inspiration from our teammates and from our Oddie friends, and for all the support the crafty world has shown us as Some Odd Girl continues to grow and expand.

Today, and for the next week, we invite you to hop with the whole team and take a little journey with us through the last year as Odd Girls.

At each Odd Girl‘s blog, you’ll find 3 of her very favorite projects created during her term, and at each Odd Girl‘s blog, there will be a digi to win.  Leave your comments at each stop, and be sure to check out the main blog HERE for the full hop list and a chance to win one grand prize.  How much damage could you do with $25 to spend at the Some Odd Girl store?  Lots of digis?  Some new clear stamps and sequins?  Maybe twine in every color?  :)

We hop now through Tuesday, March 31st at midnight EST, when we say goodbye to the current team and get ready to kick off a whole new term.  Are you ready to hop?

My three favourite projects for you include some new and old goodies from the Some Odd Girl store...  I jump around a lot and don't like to neglect my older images, so without further ado, my faves this year....
 

This happy guy!  From our Hip Hop Hooray clear stamp set - I had fun mixing embellies on this card and I was really happy with the way the fur came out!  :)

 

And this dude...  Because I can't think of anything more dashing and debonair than a British octopus wearing a monocle, can you?  (Mr. Octopus clear stamp set)

And this girl!  We introduced Piper to the Some Odd Girl family of cute and quirky characters, and the whole team fell in love with her spunky curls!  She's SO much fun to colour, and you'll be seeing much more of her in the months to come!  Here's my giveaway for you...  Shopping Piper (digi stamp):

Comment below and you could win Shopping Piper!  Comment on EVERY Odd Girl's blog post and you could win a digi there, too!  CLICK HERE and check out the whole hop, and THANK YOU for being ODD!  It's my favourite way to be.  ;)

you've got a really nice pear...

i can't take credit for that, but it totes made me lullz so i had to use it to get your attention.  ;)

i've got a card today that is all cute and kawaii and part of our Valentine's inspiration week at the Some Odd Girl blog.  that's right, i made something.  AGAIN.

this one's by special request for a most awesome co-worker, and i hope she likes it!  i used a retired Some Odd Girl digi called Anjou - you can grab the clear stamp version in our Fruit Salad set and make even MORE cutery, because there are more fruits and punny sentiments (right up my alley!).  voila!

because nothing says "I love the SH!T out of you" like happy, smiling fruit!  right?  i also used the awesome Gold Foil Doilies from the Odds & Ends section of the Some Odd Girl shop, because they're seriously HOT.  and because GOLD FOIL.

annnnnnd, it's Valentine's inspo ALL WEEK, so you really should CLICK HERE to see what we're on about.  the Odd Girls are ON FIRE!

i also used the sweet card sketch from the Paper Issues Sketchy Saturday...

rotated it clockwise ninety degrees and busted out my February Swag Bag (it sold out, because they always do, but you REEEEEALLY should just get the 6-month subscription so you don't miss out - click HERE, and don't forget to use my code ORANGE for 20% off your whole purchase!)  for more inspiration from the Paper Issues Creative Team, you should check this out.  they rocked it all, as they do, and if they can inspire this girl to step out of her crafty funk, they'll inspire you, too. 

and that's it for today.  i have an exam to study for on Thursday, so i may be scarce around these parts, but i'm feeling the mojo starting to return and i am SO relieved and grateful to those who gave me the push i needed.  now to sort through the rest of the chaos...  annnnnnd FORWARD, MARCH!

The Odd Girls are Rockin'-It with Ruby Rock-it for a HOP!

HELLOOOOOOO Odd friends!  are you here for the hop?  you betcher sweet potato you are!  :)  WELCOME!

we are totally excited to bring you a fun event that incorporates both Some Odd Girl and Ruby Rock-it products into our creations, and we are READY TO ROCK-IT!  Can you handle the excitement?  :)

our hop runs NOW through Saturday, May 31st at midnight Eastern, and there are PRIZES to be won!  oh yes, there are prizes...  two lucky winners will receive a $20 gift certificate to the Some Odd Girl store, as well as this fabulous kit, the "Bella! Year in Review" collection from Ruby Rock-it:

all along the hop, you'll see inspiration from the Odd Girls and the Ruby Rock-it Creative Team, and all you have to do to be eligible to win one of the two prizes is leave a comment at each stop along the hop.
you should have arrived from PATTIE's blog, but if not, you can CLICK HERE to get started at the beginning!  you'll wrap up at the Ruby Rock-it blog, but you have many stops in between!

i busied up and got my BOX on, and put some cute gift boxes together for the many occasions that are coming up this summer - we have graduations, babies, birthdays and friends missing friends, so it's time to get some creative gift wrapping on! here's my little montage:

told you i was busy!  i used my Ultimate Tool from Crafter's Companion for all of the box templates, busted out a couple of 12x12 sheets of Ruby Rock-it paper for the two shaped boxes and embossed and covered each panel with patterned paper from their Color Fusion line.  here's my first box, featuring the super sweet Clever Kittys clear stamp set, along with a (partial) sentiment from Make a Statement clear stamp set , and two Ruby Rock-it flowers layered over some ribbon to finish it off:

love this little mouser and couldn't help but add the punny little sentiment!  

next up, box #2, featuring the gorgeous Scooter Mae digi stamp:

i went light on the embellies here as i wanted to give Mae the proper attention - see that cute teal circle embossed paper though?  i LOVE it!  it's a nice heavyweight cardstock and i want a hundred sheets of it!

and last, but not least, this ridiculously sweet couple is a little clear stamp sneak peek...
meet Milk and Cookies!

isn't the heart detail for the box closure COOL?  and i'm totally loving the sentiment!  these dudes are ridic.

and them's my boxes!  OH, and the backs:

ALL Ruby Rock-it paper, all Some Odd Girl stamps, ALL tons of fun and fabby little things will live inside the boxes later! 

we Odd Girls have LOVED working with the Ruby Rock-it papers and embellishments for our creations!  leave your comment below, and from here, you're going to head on over and visit Beckie!  In case you're bouncing around at your own leisure, here's the full hop list...

Some Odd Girl blog
Candice
Linda
Jenifer
Dana
Pattie
Leah
Beckie
Marilyn
Erin
Paola
Kaka
Lenny
Monique
Nicole
Katie
June
Suzanne
Alicia
Stephanie
Ruby Rock-it Blog

WHEW!  SO much to see along the 21 different stops!  Have fun, happy hopping, and thank you so much for joining us!  Our hop winners will be announced at the main blogs on Monday, June 2nd...  GOOD LUCK!

Designed to Color new INSPIRATION challenge sponsored by Fresh Brewed Designs!

GOOOOOOOD Saturday morning, chickens!  are you suffering heatstroke too?  it's ridiculously hot this week in South Jersey and i wish i had a pool so i could just jump in to cool off.

instead, i'm packing boxes and moving things into my new house and running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  yep.  NEW HOUSE!  so exciting, and can't wait to set up my craft room!

right now, i just want to share the brand new Designed to Color challenge because this is my first one as a member of the GLITTER CREW!  yep.  i've been with them since the magazine kicked off, and now we've started this new chapter for the blog and our challenges, and we have some AMAZING sponsors lined up for you!

our June challenge is sponsored by the super fun and cute Fresh Brewed Designs, who offer THIS little guy:

 cute, right?  that's Squeaker's Ride, and you can get him HERE!

here's the inspiration photo for our challenge:

take anything that inspires you from this photo and CREATE!  all we ask is that you colour an image - after all, we are working with stamps and images that are DESIGNED TO COLOR!  :)  i like the newsprint with the pops of colour, particularly the red and blue...  here's what i did with this one:

so take those patterns from a big room, put 'em down to a smaller scale, and voila!  that's what worked for me.  mostly a CAS kinda card here - Squeaker did all the work for me!  ;)

here's the breakdown...

Prismacolor Pencils
Colors: Mouse - 1052, 1054, 935 (nose), 928 (ear); Cheese - 1003, 1094; Car - 924, 1065; Lights - 1069, 917; Tires - 935, 1063, 1061, 1065; Smoke clouds - 1052, 1060
Cardstock: Georgia Pacific (for image), Canvas Corp
Image: Squeaker's Ride (Fresh Brewed Designs)
Elements: patterned paper - Out of Print (BasicGrey); tags - Chic Tags; twine - The Twinery; tape - #849 (love my tapes); pigment ink - Studio G (Hampton Art); bling - Lush (My Mind's Eye); other -
3-d Dots (EK Success)

and that's that!  CLICK HERE to play along with our challenge - you have two weeks to join in the fun!  if you have any Fresh Brewed Designs images, we'd love to see you use them on your project!  if not, that's okay too.  maybe you'll just win some to use on future projects!  :)  have fun, and i'm off to do some moving!

(linked up at Paper Issues for the new "Say Cheese" theme - there's actual CHEESE on the card!)