THIS is coming!

and it's gonna be AWESOME!  join me, along with a bazillion other amazing artists, to see Trudy Sjolander's new swirly stamps in action!  I can't say enough about this passionate group of artists, but I can assure you that you will be inspired! 

Happy birthday Designed to Color! Let's play!

morning, chickens!  it's a very exciting day in the blogosphere, you know.  if you haven't caught wind of some of the hints we've dropped in the Designed to Color Facebook group, then i think it's time you checked out the DTC BLOG!  it's our FIRST BIRTHDAY, and we are celebrating, but we want you to join us!  :)

first of all, thank you, to everyone who's followed, shared, participated, offered feedback, submitted to the magazine, and shown support over the last year +.  if it weren't for your enthusiastic crafty peeps, we wouldn't be doing this!

second, i KNOW you all like getting your craft on, and i KNOW you all like winning stuff.  well then you might want to play along with our birthday Tic-Tac-Toe!  we have some totally HOT sponsors lined up, and some HOTTER prizes for you to win!

well i wanted to play along with today's event, and we have lots more fun coming your way over the next few days, so join us, be inspired, create things, and GOOD LUCK!  :)

here's my card for our Tic-Tac-Toe game:

there's loads of gorgeous paper from BasicGrey's "two scoops" line - an oldie but a goodie!  plus stamps from The Greeting Farm (Blush Babette) and Some Odd Girl (balloons from Kaylee's Closet: Party Time and banner from Angel Gwen), twine from My Mind's Eye, stickers from My Little Shoebox (Rose)...  doodled up with a Sharpie marker, and voila! 

OH, and Babette's coloured with Spectrum Noir pens (yep, i'm diggin' 'em, but i still have a LOT of learning to do, and am only working with 12 colours!)...  here's the rundown:

skin: FS2, FS3
eyes: EB2
hair: IG1, IG2, IG4, IG6, IG8
dress: PP1
trim/socks/shoes: IG1, IG2, IG4

so...  the Tic-Tac-Toe?  here's the grid:

i went straight down the middle!  you can do any line of 3 elements - you just need to have something COLOURED on your project.  wanna know what you can win?  of COURSE you do!  here's our lineup of sponsors:

kinda seriously nifty, right?  Yumi and Fumi and DTC are offering up the first prize package, but anyone joining our festivities will be entered into the Grand Prize drawing, too, which is just ridic.  :)  play along by CLICKING HERE...  the clock's tickin'!

i'm playing along with:
BasicGrey Challenges - they have an Anything Goes theme going on
Creative Card Crew - Happy Birthday!

focus on PATTERNS at Charisma!

woot!  my challenge this week at Charisma, and i couldn't wait to see what the Charisma Galz would do with this one!  i want to see AT LEAST 5 PATTERNED PAPERS on your projects, and while i know that may sound nutty (well, it's me, so it could very well BE nutty!), i must let you know that Team Carly made it look SO easy!

right.  so.  the challenge.  RIGHT HERE.  you've got a week - this one ends next Wednesday, so let's see you rock it!  if you want a tip, it's SUPER easy to do with a simple repetition working within one line from any paper company... 

i mixed it up with 2 - We R Memory Keepers' "Antique Chic" line, and My Mind's Eye's "Everyday Flair".  here's what i came up with (sadly, it seems i've been making more sympathy cards than anything else lately - ugh):

there's a total of 7 patterns here - 6 for the scalloped circles, and one subtle layer across the top of the card.  easy peasy!

so that's one easy way to A) combine a whole slew of patterns without making it look busy or chaotic; and B) use up scraps, if you're buried under a mountain of 'em!  :)

CLICK HERE to check out the projects from the Charisma Galz and to play along - we're giving away prizes from:

 

yeah.  digis, digis, digis!  6 from DigiStamp Boutique, 3 from Crafty Sentiments, and as many as 10 pounds will get you at Bunny Zoe's!  :)  we have awesome sponsors, and there's SO much variety in their shops, you won't know where to BEGIN if you're one of our winners!  :)  

i've also decided to play along at:

Paper Pretties - their theme is "Spike the Punch" - i loves me some punches!

Simon Says Stamp Challenge - ANYTHING GOES

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - they're looking for "Swirls and Lace"

 

and that's all she wrote, folks!  happy crafting, and we're ALMOST at the weekend!  WOOT WOOT!

 

Charisma's got a one-layer challenge up!

howdy, crafty chickens!  it's a SUPER dreary Saturday in South Jersey, and all i wanna do is get my craft on.  unfortunately, my priority is a sympathy card, which is not my favorite by any means, but it has to be done.  if i get to it and behave, i can reward myself with some more fun crafting, so i'm going to make this short and sweet!

Charisma's challenge this week is ONE-LAYER CARDS.  it kicked off Thursday and runs through Wednesday, and it's a challenge for me, so i decided that i'd play, even though it's Team Gem's week...  ready?  here's the card i whipped up, using some fussy cutting with gorgeous DCWV paper, a big old stamp from MSE!, a couple of quick pearls, and my trusty MS scoring board:

 

 it looks easy, right?  ;) 

you wanna play?  you wanna win some goodies from these guys?

Pink Cat Studio

or these guys?

Cardmadfairy

or, if you're in the UK and want to go to Birmingham, perhaps a couple of tickets to this?

NEF Event in Birmingham March 21-24

well then.  get to it.  create your one-layer card, link it up HERE, and you might be one of our lucky winners!  :)  either way, CLICK HERE to see some awesome one-layer creations from our uber-talented Charisma Galz - we have such a great team, i'm always inspired to see what they're adding! 

soooooo, there you have it.  i'm off to make a sympathy card and hopefully some other pretties, and you should definitely watch this space because there are EXCITING things on the horizon for this little Orange Girl!

Something big's coming your way!

just sayin'!

you might want to mark your calendars, 'cuz it's going to be SUPER inspiring and totally awesomesauce!