Softpencil Blog Hop!!!

Hello all and welcome to the second part of the Softpencil Blog Hop! This part runs from April 15th to April 20th....and I get to be a part of it! Thank you Elizabeth! :-)

We are celebrating the first year of Elizabeth's characters, the Tinytwinies™, the first year of Softpencil Studios relaunching and Elizabeth's 10th anniversary as a professional artist. We're also celebrating the opening of Elizabeth's new shop where all of her products are available: digi-stamps, clear stamps, stickers, rub-ons, kits for card making, scrapbooking and paper crafting - and more products coming soon! 

There are several prizes along the way:

• Elizabeth will be choosing a random winner (through random.org) from the players who complete the blog hop - the winner will receive a gift certificate for $15 to the Softpencil shop... and a surprise!
• All the players who participate by leaving their comments on each blog will receive a free digi-stamp of their choice. Yes! Only leave a comment on each blog and win a digi-stamp! Write to Elizabeth at elizabethpujalka@hotmail.com to let me know you commented on all the blogs. 
• And there is a "mystery blog" so all the girls who leave a comment on that blog will be entered on a drawing to win a digi-stamp... and a little surprise too! 

So be sure to leave a comment at each stop and leave 2 comments back at the Softpencil Blog! 


Now, onto my projects.  For this hop I made two cards - one using Easter Sunny, the other using adorable Lilly.

I colored Easter Sunny with Prismacolor colored pencils and cut it out and embossed it with my Scalloped Squares Nestabilities and my Cuttlebug.  The sentiment is from Stampin' Up, "Spring Fling".  The words had little stars in it, but I didn't care for them so I put yellow flower brads over them :-)  

I colored Lilly with Prismacolor colored pencils and used Circle Nestabilities and my Cuttlebug to cut her out.  For the background I just layered three papers - I couldn't decide which color to go with so I used them all!  The flowers (SU "Close as a Memory") are stamped using SU craft ink in white and then embossed with white powder.  On Lilly, I added glitter to her bow, a brad for the center of her flower, and black glossy accents on her buttons and shoes.  Below is a close-up to try and show the details on her :-)

That's all I have for today!  Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered into the drawing!

Happy hopping!

1- Annette Bowes 

2- April Lower 

3- Stephanie Serrano 

4- Julie Masse 

5- Farida Rone 

6- Monica Torres 

7- Melissa Craig 

8- Carole Rinear Chesser 

9- Michelle Quinno 

10- Debra Miller  (you should have come from here)

11- Heather D ---  This is me!

12- Pauline Guttrey 

13- Cyndi Kim 

14- Mervi 

15- Lola 

16- Jessica Shelton 

17- Monica Flores 

Dragon b-day card

Here's a birthday card I made for one of my kids' friend's birthday parties.  I used Dustin Pike's freebie image and colored with Prismacolor pencils.  I double matted him and put some ballon brads along the side.

Tools used: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities squares, balloon brads, Prismacolor colored pencils, Dustin Pike digi

Color Challenge

Here's a card I made for a color challenge at Softpencil on Paper Craft Planet.  The color challenge (if you can't already guess lol) was to use primary colors red, blue and yellow.  I just love these little girl images! Too cute!  You can't really see in the picture, but I put glitter on her bows.  For the background I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the dots and then I used my new SU corner punch for the corners.  The glitter flowers are leftovers from a craft we did for my daughter's 5th b-day last year.

Tools used: Cuttlebug, digi stamps, corner punch, Prismacolor pencils

Girl with flowers

Look out digi world here I come! tee hee :-)  My girlfriend Diane got me into coloring...and hopefully I'll be making my colored images into cards really soon!  Here's one I did recently.  The image is from Softpencil.  Go check them out!  Very cute stuff! 

Tools used: Cuttlebug - die cutting and Nestabilities; Delight in Life stamp set from SU; Prismacolor pencils; flowers & brads

Block Stencils

For these cards I took two blocks of the block stencil kit and enlarged them to 2.5x2.5" each.  They come either in the sheet, or as individual blocks, so once I enlarged them and centered them on a rectangle (4.25x5.5") I removed the outline of the block so that the stencil part would stay on the paper I was making for my card.  This created the centerpiece, if you will, for my cards.

For the hearts card I cut a frame out using my nesties and cuttlebug and put it over the stencil part.  I used a scrap piece of red paper to put behind the hearts.  Chalked the border of the paper I cut on my Silhouette and then stamped "love" and added some flowers to the end.  Voila!

For this card I followed the same kind of thing as above, but instead of the red paper, I used - get this - a part of the blue plastic bag that covers our paper each week.  Good way to recycle, right? :-)  I was going for more of a stained glass look.  I wanted the blue to really show through, but I wanted it on a black card, so I layered the blue plastic and then white paper behind the stencil (blue plastic on black would've been too dark).  Then I added bling, a ribbon, a stamped sentiment and then adhered to the black card and I was done!  Well, except that it's hard to write on black, so I put a white piece of paper inside to write a note on.

Tools used: Stencils, Silhouette, Cuttlebug, Nestabilities

Flower Stencil sample

Here's a card I made using Darcy's Floral Stencil Kit.  One of the things I love about this kit is that it's so versatile!  You can mix and match and make any kind of flower you want.  Also included in the file are mats for the flowers too.  Very cool! 

In this card I used the "ink on the Q-tip technique" in my previous balloon card.  This time I didn't use the blender pen because I wanted a softer feel for the flower.  I used my Cuttlebug to cut the mat and the slider.  The 'thank you' is from Just Rite Stampers.

Tools used: Stencils, Cuttlebug, Just Rite Stampers, Silhouette

Stencils with your Silhouette? Oh yes!

Did you think about creating stencils on your digital cutter?  Well, Darcy of Darcy's Designs did! You can check out her blog here, store here, and digital cutting site here.  Yes, she's a busy lady!  Below is the first card I made using her Birthday Stencil Kit.  I colored the balloons with a Q-tip and ink, and then I used a blender pen to blend them in a little bit more.  Tied a bow on it, framed it, and called it a day. :-)  Very fun, yet simple to do!  I can't wait to try other media on the stencils!  And more samples to come this week - keep your eyes open ;-)   

Tools used: Silhouette (to cut the stencils); Cuttlebug w/ Nestabilities to cut the frame;

Gram's card

My gram turned 86 today! Happy B-day Grams!

For her b-day I made her this card. Her favorite color is red and she's a great indoor gardener, so that was my inspiration for this card. I used a square Nestabilities on my Cuttlebug to cut the square frame out of the front of the card. The flower was cut on my Silhouette and I used Darcy's (Darcy's Designs) freebie flower. The file cuts two swirls, so I used one as is, and the other one I cut. With the cut one I placed part on the outside of the card and the other part on the inside of the card on the top of the flower. I also lined up the leaf on the outside to match the leaf on the inside. A little chalking around the frame, a little bling in the bottom corner, a little stamping sentiment on the inside and I'm done! I hope she likes it! :-)

(Front of card)

(Slightly opened to show how the leaf/stem line up)

(Fully opened)

Tools used: Silhouette; Cuttlebug

Austyn's 2nd B-day Card

I made this card for my husband's cousin's 2nd birthday. As you can tell, he's a big Sesame Street fan - Austyn, not Dale! LOL Anyways.... I used my Cuttlebug for most of this. I embossed the background, and then used die cuts for the rest. For the characters I used a circle scallop from Nestabilities. Both sets of eyes were cut using the smallest Nestabilities circle die. The black part of the eye were punched with a regular old (and I mean old!) hole punch. The mouths were made from cutting a punched circle in half. I free-handed Elmo's nose.

Tools used: Cuttlebug embossing folder, die cut, Nestabilities