Good Morning,

I was nominated by my very dear friend Darcy, of Crafting With Darcy to do The Creative Blog Hop!  I have never done this before, so here goes!  Darcy and I met when we both became DT members at The Outlwaz Challenges about a year ago!  We started talking to kind of help each other learn the ropes, although she was a much bigger help to me, than I was to her, because she understands all of this stuff!   You know how sometimes you meet someone and you just hit it off....well, that is how it was with Darcy!   We now talk daily, and I so look forward to hearing from her!   We have so many common interests and experiences!   

The Creative Blog Hop happens every Monday and hops from crafter to crafter.  We all answer the same questions.

1.  What am I working on?

     I always have a couple of cards in progress...sometimes just  in my mind, but still in progress!  I am on the DT for Twisted Thursday at the Outlawz, so I am always trying to create new cards for the challenges.   I love learning new techniques and trying them out!

2.  How does my work differ from others of my genre? 

     I think everyone develops their own style that is constantly evolving.  My style has changed as I have learned new things and gotten better at some techniques.  Over all, I think I like making cards that have some Copic Pen coloring on them, or colored pencil, or some sort of art medium.   

3. Why do I write/create what I do?

   I have always enjoyed creating something, and I like the feeling of creating something that is totally yours.  As a kid, I was constantly doodling, and my Mom taught me to crochet when I was 5, so I started making outfits for  my stuffed animals.  Over the years I have tried just about every craft out there, and have enjoyed them all.   I find it very relaxing, so I guess thats why I do it!

4. How does my creation process work?  I'm not sure!   Sometimes ideas come to me easily, and other times I struggle for days to complete one card!  I usually start out with:

   Whats the challenge?

    What image do I want to use?

    What is the occasion for the card?

    I color the image

    Then I sit surrounded by papers and dies trying many options before I get the glue out!

    Last, I like to add embellishments like gems, Stickles, flowers, whatever!

    Then I try to always finish the inside of my card so that it matches the outside in some way.  Sometimes the inside takes 

    longer than the outside!

Now it is time to nominate 3 people for the blog hop.  This is going to be hard!   I think everyone should be nominated!

Here's my list, which is in no way complete...I want to nominate my whole DT team at the Outlawz!   But since I can't, I will nominate the people I have worked with the longest!

3. Pia Skarning

http://piaspapirogperler.blogspot.no

Pia is another team mate that joined the Twisted Thursday DT shortly after I did!  Pia lives in Norway and makes beautiful cards for our challenges!   She is another extremely talented DT member!  

And I just want to say that Olga Moore at

http://creativevisualpoetry.blogspot.com

is another team mate and should be nominated also, along with 

Andrea Beecroft at

http://www.andneil.blogspot.co.nz

Now, please join in the fun and visit these awesome blogs!

OMGoodness, it is September, already!  I hope everyone enjoyed the Labor Day holiday, and had some end of the season picnics and fun!
This week at the Outlawz, the Twisted Thursday Challenge is, "Anything Goes...with the twist being....Make Something Sparkle"!  I used this underwater scene created by Oak Pond Creations, who just happens to be our sponsor for this month!

I colored the image with Copic Pens, then wanted to make it "sparkly" for the challenge!  So, I added some silver charms, some Perfect Pearls for the bubbles and some Dazzles for seaweed!   But, I wanted more "Sparkle", so I decided to experiment!   In the sandy area at the bottom there is some pink glitter that looks like sand.   The experiment was...I did this with glitter nail polish!   It went on so easy with the little brush and does not react with the Copic ink or the printer ink!   And once it is dry, it does not flake off like glitter, and it lays flatter and more smooth!   It is hard to see in the picture, but I really like how it came out!  I used the glitter nail polish that has glitter suspended in clear nail polish.  When it dries, you don't even see the clear polish, just the glitter, at least the colors I used worked this way!  I hope you will experiment with this, also!  I think it will work great for Christmas and snow scenes!  

Inside I just used more of the same elements found on the front of the card to tie it all together!

I hope you find time to join us at the Outlawz Twisted Thursday Challenge and that you visit Oak Pond Creations for some great digis!

Thanks for stopping in and have a great week!

Janet

Another Thursday and we find ourselves at the end of August already!  At the Outlawz, Twisted Thursday Challenge we have a great challenge up and running!  We have the usual "Anything Goes...with the twist being...."A Lighthouse"!   These are such unique structures, and have such interesting histories!    I chose this wonderful digi stamp from Sweet and Sassy!  I live in Maine and we have a lighthouse very similar to this one, so it was perfect for me!

I used my Copic Pens to color the image. The birds were cut with a tiny die. I added Wink Of Stella to the lighthouse and the birds.  I then added some yellow Stickles to the "lighted" part of the lighthouse!  I used SB dies to cut the background layers in red, white and blue.   I also added some twine that was red and white striped to go with the lighthouse!  A simple Hello sentiment is all I used.

Inside I used the same papers, and some fancy dies!

Our sponsor for this week is:

http://www.markerpop.com/

Thanks for stopping by this week!

Have a great week, everyone!

Janet

I have a new card to share today with the monthly image from Deedee's Digis!  The challenge this month is a bit different to celebrate Deedee's first anniversary!   There are all kinds of twists!   I'm really late getting mine in, but you still have time to hop over to Deedee's and get in on the fun!  You have until the end of the month to join the challenge!
This digi is called Monkey Business!   It is just so darn cute and the sentiments that are included are so versatile!

I liked this little guy hanging by his tail and holding a cupcake, saying "Hang In There"!  I colored him with my Copic Pens, added some Stickles to the leaves and the heart on the cupcake, cut him out and mounted him on a wobbler so it would look like he was swinging from the branch!   The background paper is just some paper I had in my stash that I thought looked like a good jungle background.   The sign is cut out using a SB die and then I added some twine and a brad to make it look like an old hanging sign.

 Inside I used the other monkey image for twice the fun!  I colored it, cut it out, and mounted it on pop dots after adding the papers for writing a message!  These little guys are just adorable!

Be sure to check out Deedee's Digis for all these cute sets and come join the fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a great day!

Janet

 

Hello everyone, its Thursday, and you know what that means!   Another fun challenge at the Outlawz,   Twisted Thursday Challenge!   We have the usual "Anything Goes...with the Twist being...Boys Will Be Boys"!   I used a fun digi image from Saturated Canary called "Brothers".

I colored the image with Copic Pens and mounted it on some paper from my stash, and added just a bit of bling.  The sentiment says, "Don't Forget"...

Inside says, "The Awesome Moments"!

I used SB Dies to cut out the inside shapes from matching paper!

Our awesome sponsor this week is:

http://www.markerpop.com/

Be sure to visit them for all your paper crafting needs!   They have an awesome selection of everything!

Thanks for stopping by this week!

Have a great week!

Janet

It's Thursday and that means another new challenge has started at the Outlawz!  This week the challenge is the usual "Anything Goes...with the twist being...Spread Your Wings and Fly"!   This theme is perfect for anyone starting something new...first day of school, off to college, new job or any new venture!   I tried something new for me, this week!  

I first cut this card base using my Silhouette.   The base and the butterfly pieces came with the file.   I used a pack of paper that I got at Wal-Mart called watercolor paper.   It is a nice paper that is 12x12 and no two pieces are alike.  They look like swirled watercolor backgrounds.   I started with the pink base, but I cut the butterfly pieces from a yellowish piece.   Next, I added some Inspirations glitter paint to the butterflies.   It is kind of translucent, so you can still see the yellow, just hints of the paint color show.   But then....I added UTEE ( Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) to the butterflies!   I had never used this stuff before, but I have to say, I like it!!  I watched some videos on how to use it.   It is just like embossing powder, but it gets very thick, almost like a plastic coating, and shiny!  So now the butterflies are thicker and coated and really stand out!   It's much better in person!  I used clear, so the paint I added still shows.   I think you can add glitter to this stuff...I will have to experiment!  You just use a heat gun like with regular embossing powder.

I stamped the flower image on the front of the card using Olive Green ink, some dark, some light to give it some dimension, and then I added some white to the flowers using a Stampin Up Chalk Pen.   I had the sentiment, so I stamped it on a pre-cut shape and mounted it with pop dots.  The butterflies were also added with pop dots.

A close-up, but still doesn't do it justice!

Inside I stamped some more of the same flower, and then added some small stamped butterflies.

 I will be using UTEE again.   I got mine at Susanna's Custom Art and Card Design!

Don't forget to visit this month's generous sponsors:

Marker Pop

&

Paper Temptress

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Janet

August is upon us and The Twisted Thursday team, at the Outlawz, has some fun challenges planned for the month!   Our sponsors this month are, Marker Pop and Paper Temptress!  For this first week of August the theme is the usual "Anything Goes...with the twist being...Men At Work"!  When I started to think about this one, I thought of my husband, and this is what immediately came to mind....

Yep, he's an avid golfer, and this is now his work,  hence the hashtag!

I cut the silhouette out using my Silhouette.   The bush is cut using a die and the green area and blue water hazard are just cut free hand to give the golfer something to stand on.   The background paper is a sunset paper from an Origami Paper collection.  I printed and cut the sentiment using my Zink Happy printer!   I also added a very thin Dazzle border on each side...it just needed something!

Inside is simple....some chevron Washi tape and that is it!

Come join us at the Outlawz and show us your men at work!

Don't forget to visit our awesome sponsors:

Marker Pop

and 

Paper Temptress

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Janet