Birthday Bear

Hello and welcome to Friday with The Character Cafe. The challenge this week over at the challenge blog is:

ROUND CARD

This is my all time favorite TCC digistamp...I've used it several times. I think I've gotten better at coloring him too.

So all the kids are turning 3 (Bean already is), and I wanted to make a special card for her cousin. OK, now ask me if I ever made Bean a card...no, I didn't. But I HAVE to because I write my memories for that year and/or my hopes. Then, when Bean is older...I'm thinking after high school, she hopefully will read them and appreciate them.

Deets: TCC digistamp colored with Prismas, round nesties, sewing, bling, Celebrations Cricut cart for the "3" cut at 2 3/4" (regular and shadow).

So play along this week with your ROUND CARD and enter it at the Challenge Blog for your chance to win! Also, I hope you'll take a look at the rest of the DT (blogs on the right) for more inspiration!

This card also meets the following challenges:

• Party Time Tuesday - Anything Goes Birthday
• Digital Tuesday - Dazzle Me (bling)

Embellish It!

Hello and happy Thursday! Today is a special posting for Designed2Delight. All the DT gals have created SUPER embellishment tutorials for you all. First, I want to show off my finished card using the D2D FREEBIE!!

I used Me & My Big Idea DP, the D2D freebie colored with Prisma Premier Markers, nesties and Worn Lipstick Ranger Ink for shading, sewing, sentiment is Stampin' Up, and the Felt Flower embellishment made by....ME! Next is my tutorial, then a sneek peek of all the other tutorials put together by the talented D2D team - with links to their blogs!

Make a felt or fabric flower embellishment:

There are many ways to make felt/fabric flower embellishments. This is just one way using the Cuttlebug and Nestabilities. I'm using the Dahlia, but the circles, scalloped circles, inverted scalloped, etc. all work well. The recipe: Plate A, Plate B, pieces of felt/fabric, nesties face DOWN, Plate C. I sometimes put a regular piece of CS (NOT 110lb PTI - something along the lines of 60lb) on top of the nesties before Plate C for a clean cut. I run the plates through once and then back again.

Doing it twice and with CS on top gives a nice clean cut.

I gather my supplies: felt/fabric pieces, thread and needle, and one button. Stack the felt/fabric and button and sew through all layers (just like sewing a button on a shirt).

Super simple handmade embellishment in under 5 minutes! Don't have a Cuttlebug or Nestabilities? No problem. Use pinking shears (those zig-zag scissors) and cut your own circles in two or three different sizes.

My personal preference for adhearing embellishments to my cards is Glue Dots. I picked these up at Michael's long ago and never have things fall apart.

Here is my final project.

**Make-Your-Own Embellishments Blog Extravaganza**

The Designed2Delight Lead Designers have been busy!! Follow all the links below to view 9 different tutorials for 9 different embellishments (on 8 different blogs) that YOU can make YOURSELF!!

Designed2Delight.com

Don't forget to stop by the Designed2Delight Digital Stamps group on Crafter's Digital Art Center for the details AND a FREE Digital Stamp!!

Jane ~ Make Your Own Buttons Tutorial

Lola ~ Make Your Own Felt and Fabric Flowers Tutorial

Faith ~ Make Your Own Faux Prima Flowers Tutorial

Kathy ~ Make Your Own Chipboard Accents Tutorial

Debbie ~ Scalloped Punched Paper Flower Tutorial

Robin ~ Stitching with Beads Tutorial

Michelle ~ Scallop Punched Flower/Medallion Tutorial

Michelle ~ Ribbon Frame Tutorial

Sherrie ~ Make Your Own Ribbon Roses Tutorial

Owl Love

I'll let you in on a little secret: I'm not the romantic type at all. I don't make lovey dovey cards but every once in a while, I come across an image that just makes me want to make a "love" card. Like this one I recently WON at MyGrafico:

I won a challenge not too long ago and got this adorable set. I colored it with Prisma Premier markers, and boy did I have one heck of a time staying in the lines!! I used a really light blue chalk ink with the nesties for shading. The paper is from my new mat stack: Me and My Big Ideas (that was the only title I saw on the cover). The sentiment is Hero Arts.

So whatcha think? Too PINK?

This card meets the following challenges:

• Card Patterns - sketch #74
• MyGrafico - embossing
• Cow Girl Sundays - Anything Goes!

Christmas in July

Welcome to Friday with The Character Cafe where the challenge this week is:

POCKET CARD

I'm not participating in this challenge, but I am using an adorable TCC Image to kick start my Christmas cards:

I know they are not traditional Christmas colors, but I'm not a traditional girl :) And that's what creating is all about anyway right? Making it "your own." A few details: image is TCC colored with Prisma Premier Markers, nesties with Tea Ranger Ink for shading, sewing, PTI and Wild Asparagus DP. The three little dots in the upper right are glitter CS punched with my Cropadile.

Whatcha think? I personally like it...it's a little "vintage." I also like the CAS look of it - I am one of those who believes CAS can contain patterned papers :)

So post your POCKET CARD at the TCC Challenge Blog for a chance to win digistamps (like the one I'm using!)!! Also, please leave a little love for the rest of the DT (blogs to the right---->).

This card meets the following challenges:

• Critter Challenge - Christmas in July with Sketch
• Friends Having Fun - Christmas in July
• The Pink Elephant - BROWN

Mini Monsters

Hello all. Just one more day till Friday! Anyway, last Saturday I got a new Cricut cart: Mini Monsters. It has some of the cutest creatures ever! Can you say "Halloween Crack?!" But I couldn't wait till October to start playing with it.

OK, so there's a bunch of monsters, but I also found this adorable frog with crazy eyes. The paper is K&Co's Wild Saffron. The layout is Card Patterns #73, and the sentiment is Stampin' Up's Circle of Friendship.

BTW, the frog is cut at 2" and shaded with chalk inks. I also added glaze to his eyes just for the heck of it.

There's also a card feature on this cart, so I cut the "Icky" card at 5.5" in white for the base.

The rest of the cuts are also at 5.5" - regular, layers and shadow. I added sewing around the pansa (belly), one of his crazy eyes and tail. I'm not sure yet about adding a sentiment, but I just had to try the card feature. So I've got a jump start on Halloween!

Have a great Thursday and see you tomorrow with my jump start on Christmas!

Fancy Chicken

Well isn't this a fancy chicken?

I used M's Just Cheeky DCS (scraps only!), the chicken is Designed2Delight colored with Prismas, square nesties and Lipstick Ranger Ink shading. The sentiment is Stampin' Up's Circle of Friendship.

If you don't already know about Designed2Delight's Challenge Blog, if you play along with the current weeks image you get a free image for next week. There is also a new challenge blog called Double Delight, so use the D2D image of the week AND the Double Delight challenge for more chances to win!

This card meets the following challenges:

• Designed2Delight - use the Fancy Chicken!
• Double Delight - POP it up!
• Sunday Sketch and Stamp - sketch #32
• Digital Tuesday - Happy Birthday
• Dare U 2 Digistamp - Stitching
• Charisma Cardz - #28 Pink!

Cute Pair

Happy Tuesday! Here's a quick share:

The papers are from Pink Petticoat, digistamp from MyGrafico, paper pieced and a touch of copics, nesties, Ranger Ink (Denim and Peeled Paint). FYI - I used the rectangle nesties but it was too wide, so I did two cuts with the same die and embossed to get the size I wanted. Sentiment circle is computer generated.

I got this stamp set a while back and I've had this card in mind the entire time. I finally put it all down and think it's cute. Why is the sentiment brown? Because I made it before I picked a color scheme. Oh well. Hope everyone is keeping cool!

This card fits these challenges:

• MyGrafico - Paper Piecing


• Card Positioning Systems - CPS 176