Whiff of Midnight (?!)

Today's card is a combination of challenges, hence the silly blog post title. :-) It combines the Whiff of Joy challenge #45 ("bling") and sketch #16 from Priscilla Styles' Midnight Madness sketch challenge blog.

It's hard to see, but there's a small rhinestone in the flower behind the girl's ear, as well as the pearl accents. I could not find any paper that coordinated with my main dp, so I used some small swirl stamps and some Versamagic ink and created the two small pieces of "dp" behind the main image.

Enter the Dragon

This cute little Whiff of Joy dragon, that is. Yes, a rarity - a double post from me today! I just bought this dragon and I thought he'd be a good choice for the paper piercing challenge due today on the Whiff of Joy challenge blog. There's not a lot of embellishing to do with a dragon, not even one this cute. Ribbons and flowers were definitely out of the question! But the paper pierced photo corners had a "masculine" feel that I felt was just right for this card.


The patterned paper is just the thing that feeds my "if I keep it long enough, I will find just the right card for it" theory. It's an old, discontinued paper line from Basic Grey. I chose it because the herringbone pattern reminded me of scales. I colored in my dragon using a combination of Prismacolor watercolor and regular colored pencils, using the watercolor pencils for the larger areas and the regular pencils for the details/smaller areas.

I'm planning a day trip with the family tomorrow so I won't be posting anything until Thursday. Have a happy "hump day" on Wednesday! :)

Sweet Melinda

OK, well actually the song title is "Sweet Melissa" (by the Allman Brothers), but in this case, it's sweet Melinda - "Melinda Blowing Kisses" by Whiff of Joy. (The stamp company, not a band. lol) I am (impatiently) awaiting my recent order of Whiff of Joy stamps so I used one of the images that my friend Diana so kindly shared with me. :-)


Of course, this is another multi-challenge card! :) This one incorporates the Whiff of Joy Challenge #37 (use 3 patterned papers, 3 flowers and 1 ribbon); Copic Colour Challenge #20 (colors: E47 Dark Brown and YG23 New Leaf - I used E37 Sepia and YG03 Yellow Green and YG06 Yellowish Green); and, A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge #59 (hearts - mine are on the Basic Grey pink paper and in my image).

A Very Challenging Card

Too many fun challenges, too little stamping time! I managed to make this card do triple duty. I used this week's great sketch from the Whiff of Joy Challenge blog, the pink & brown color scheme from the Simon Says Challenge blog and two of the colors in the Copic Colour Challenge blog. Whew!


I used my "Willow with Cocoa" Whiff of Joy stamp to satisfy that requirement for the WOJ challenge. For the Copic color challenge, I had to use "close enough" colors - Y21 Buttercream Yellow and RV10 Pale Pink and RV13 Tender Pink instead of the called for Y23 Yellowish Beige and RV11 Pink. (I like to use Y23 along with Y17 for blonde hair).

Oh, and guess what? I was the lucky winner in last week's Copic Colour Challenge! I won two cute stamps (Clive Cockran and Guiseppe the goat) from Toodles and Binks along with a couple of other goodies. Yay!

WOJ Fairy

This card combines two challenges: the Whiff of Joy challenge blog's requirement to use a charm and the color challenge on the Copic Colour Challenge blog.


I didn't have any of the exact Copic colors, so I used Y02 (instead of Y06), RV13 ad RV14 instead of RV11 and E39 instead of E37. The paper is from another new paper stack (darn all those paper sales lately! I am powerless to resist!) - Garden Party. I think it is by DCWV. I'm not sure which Whiff of Joy image this is - my friend Diana owns the stamp and stamped a few images off for me to use.

Whiff of Joy Challenge #31

It was another fun sketch challenge (my favorite) this week over on the Whiff of Joy blog. Here's my entry:

I used "Melinda Blowing Kisses" from Whiff of Joy (thank you Diana!) and papers from my stash.

The Warmth of Friendship

This week's theme on the Whiff of Joy Challenge blog was friendship. This Willow stamp makes me think of warmth and friendship.


Supplies: Willow with Hot Cocoa (Whiff of Joy), Bittersweet dp (Basic Grey), flower (Prima), velvet brad (MM), Scarlet and Brown cs (TAC), Copics, ribbon (Michaels).

A Challenge and A Secret

I managed to get this card done tonight for the weekly Whiff of Joy Challenge. This week's challenge was a sketch challenge, which I love! Deciding on a layout is usually what takes me the longest when I'm making a card.


I, the queen of indecision and procrastination, managed to get this card done in approximately an hour. How did I manage this? Let me let you in on a little secret... I hate to clean up!! Despite my best intentions, I am usually surrounded by a certain amount of clutter. If I was a fictional character, I would be Pigpen or Oscar Madison. So, rather than clean up all those paper scraps from my workspace (because I certainly couldn't throw them away, now could I?!), I'd rather use them to make another card. These scraps were leftover from the Kewpie card I made tonight and they seemed like they'd work well with this image and sketch. (That's also how Rosie was followed by Russell!)

So, sometimes a bad habit can also have its silver lining. :-)

Blog Candy!

Wow, there is a lot of great blog candy being given away. Be sure to check my Blog Candy list on the righthand sidebar (you'll have to scroll down a bit) to see what's currently being given away. Here's a great blog candy sample from Janet's Corrosive Blog. Wouldn't you love to be the person who wins that?! :)

Also, be sure to check out the wonderful blog candy being given away by Katharina Frei - an entire set of Whiff of Joy Summer stamp kits! (See my sidebar for a link.) Two lucky winners will each win one of these great sets of stamps by the talented illustrated, Elizabeth Bell. Check out Katharina's blog for details!

Oops!

I think this is a sign I'm a little burned out on challenges.... ;-)

I was working on my card for the "splash of color" challenge when I realized I was supposed to use a WHIFF OF JOY stamp, not a Stampavie stamp. Oops! At that point, the card was assembled and partially colored, so I finished it up anyway:


Lily & Milo are just so sweet together. I love this stamp.

Now, here's my card made with a Whiff of Joy image, Melinda Blowing Kisses, that my friend Diana shared with me:


Whiff of Joy girls are always so sweet and I love coloring in their hair! I used one of my favorite printed papers on this card. I love the contrast of the crisp black and white colors with the delicate flowers and swirls. (I love anything swirly!)

Supplies - Card #1: Lily and Milo Skating (Rachel Ann Miller for Stampavie), black and white free digital paper download (TAC), ribbon from Michaels, Copic markers and Prismacolor pencils.

Supplies - Card #2: Melinda Blowing Kisses (Whiff of Joy), printed paper (Doodlebug), black brads (Doodlebug). silver gel pen, Copic markers and Prismacolor pencils.

Three challenges

I don't combine challenges very often, but I've been visiting my friend Diana's blog and was inspired. (Diana is the QUEEN of challenge combination!) I actually managed to make one card for three challenges!


My card features the adorable Matthew from Whiff of Joy stamps. The Whiff of Joy challenge for this week was to use distressing techniques on your card. I used my Heidi Swapp distressing tool on the edges of my image, then inked the edges with Palette Burnt Umber ink. I also used the same ink to sponge the edges of the paper strips near the bottom of the card.

For my layout, I used this week's sketch from the Sketchy Saturday blog. The color inspiration is from this color challenge on K Werner's blog. My printed paper is from the "Fresh Linens" collection from Front Porch. Matthew was colored in with Copic markers.

WOJ Challenge #22

This week's Whiff of Joy challenge called for a card with lots of green.


The greens in my card are muted, mostly mossy shades of green - the polka dot paper, the mat behind the image, the sponging around the sentiment, the grass I drew under the little boy. I went a little bright in the greens of his shirt. (Note: I also received this image from my Diana, so I'm not sure which WOJ stamp he is. The greeting is from an MFT stamp set.)

Magnolia Candy

Donalda is giving away a huge stash of Magnolia blog candy on her blog.

She will draw 6 winners on April 2nd, go hop on over to her blog if you're interested!

One Last Challenge Card

Last one for the night! Here's my card for this week's Whiff of Joy challenge:


Supplies: Willow with Cocoa (Whiff of Joy), Making Memories flowers, "Hello" stamp (retired from TAC), Copics, Palette Noir ink.

A Lacy Sketch?

What do you call a card that satisfies two challenges at once? (Besides a timesaver...) I made this card as part of the sketch challenge on the COPIC Color Challenge blog AND as part of the Lavender and Lace challenge on the Whiff of Joy Challenge Blog.

I took a lot of liberties with the sketch (especially for me, who usually follows a sketch closely). The original sketch just wasn't working for me and I got tired of fighting it! So, my 3 little flowers took the place of the 3 squares in the original sketch.


Supplies: Martha Stewart lavendar cardstock, TAC Premium White cardstock, Palette Noir ink, Paper Shaper flower punch, Martha Stewart lace border punch, COPIC markers, Spica clear glitter pen, brads, flower (source unknown).

Guest Designer Challenge

All of Whiff of Joy's stamps are beautiful, but as the mom of two girls (and one little girl in particular who is very fond of hot cocoa) I fell in love with "Willow with Cocoa".

Whiff of Joy is hosting a Guest Designer Challenge on their blog, so I inked up Willow and made this card.



Some close up shots:

I like how the COPIC colorless blender gives the jeans a sort of "stonewashed" look. I wanted to give this card a soft, antique-y look, so I did a lot of inking on the edges of many of the elements. This isn't usually my style, but I like how it turned out. I credit my friend and fellow stamping-supply-shopaholic Diana, with this idea - Diana never met an edge she didn't like - to ink! ;-)


Isn't she sweet?

Supplies: Whiff of Joy - Willow with Cocoa, patterned paper from Target, flowers by Prima and Making Memories, COPIC markers, ribbon from Hobby Lobby, Fiskars Threading Water punch, teardrop Paper Shaper punch, Palette Noir and Burnt Umber inks, VersaMagic mauve ink, antique brass brads.