Sugar and spice...

"and everything nice.  That's what little girls are made of."  My last post was a card for a boy's birthday.  This one is soooo girlie!!  To me, little Izzie from Stamping Bella is the total essence of that little girl poem.  So soft and feminine!  Sooooo cute!!

This card is for my son's fiancee's birthday which is exactly one week after his.  Lindsay and Ryan (my son) are getting married this fall and I couldn't be happier!  She's a great gal and makes Ryan very happy.  After all, that's what we mothers want for our kids, right??

Izzie was just a ball to work up... all that curly and yummy cake!  I purchased her and a few other Izzie's (and Mavises) a couple weeks ago when Stamping Bella was having a 20% off sale!  LOVE those sales!  : )  I just couldn't wait to color one up and knew 'Izzie has a BIRFDAY cake' would be perfect this occasion. 

Now the original coloring was a much softer pink with white stripes.  But when I found this wonderful vintage paper from Graphic 45, I just had to use it.  Since Izzie's pink was too soft, I 'dustied' it up by sponging the entire image (leaving the oval nestie in place) with antique linen distress ink.  I think that really did the job.  IRL they look great together.  Oh... and I have to give credit for my layout to Linda Heavens.  I saw this ca-yute layout a while back and it stuck in my memory.  I thought it was perfect for this card.  Thanks Linda!!!

Challenges:
Stamp Something - recipe:  1 DP, 1 ribbon, 1 image
Paper Romance - just add glitter
Pile it on - your favorite things.  Mine... pink, birthdays, cake, adorable girls
Cupcake Inspirations - photo inspiration

I guess that's it!  Thanks so much for checking in today.  I hope you'll come back again soon.
Denise

Stamps:  Stamping Bella Izzie has a BIRFDAY cake, Stamping Bella sentiment
Paper:  Graphic 45 Le Romantique, Gina K. pure luxury (image), PTI (sentiment)
Ink:  Memento tuxedo black, Distress Ink antique linen
Supplies:  Nesies, ribbon, roses, white glitter
Technique:  Copic markers and prismacolor pencils and gamsol

Snakes and snails...

"and puppy dog tails.  That's what little boys are made of".  Isn't that so accurate of our little guys???  It just makes me smile thinking about it.  But... my little boy isn't so little any more.  He's all grown up, about 6'1" and getting married this fall.  However, there are many times I think about him in his 'little boy' stage of life.  For his birthday, I've created this card.  Memories of his younger days.  Ya know... maybe I made it for me!!  : )

This wonderful image is a Sugar Nellie digi image by Diane Duda.  I just LOVE her work.  Her 'Upside Down' stamp was one of the most fun images I've worked up.  They're just good old-fashioned cute!!  I just wish she would expand her line of stamps.  She also has an Etsy shop that's just wonderful to browse through.

I decided to use the 'neutrals' on the non-image parts of the card and include the color on the image.  I really like how it turned out.  I love the newspapery DP (from October Afternoon The Thrift Shop).  It's talking about all these nostalgia things and just worked so well with this card.  Of course the image covered up much of it so you can't read an entire sentence!  But the idea is there!  hahahaha!!

As I said, this guy happens to be a digital image.  I'm really lovin' the digis as... no shipping... receive them nearly immediately... storage is easy.  I have trouble with my printer's ink smearing when using the copics, but works great with the prismacolor pencils.  But... I've just recently learned that a printer at work uses the proper ink for copics!!!  So I take my own paper and print out what I want.  I don't waste too much of my employer's resources... just ink and a tad of electricity??  : )  Anyway, I was very tickled to figure this out as I've been using more and more digis and wanted to use my copics sometimes too!

I think I've hit a lot of challenges with this card.  I hope I'm legit on all of them...
Challenges:
Truly Scrumptious - the sketch
Crafty Catz - distressing (missed the deadline)
Stamp Something - the colors of your flag (dang... missed this one too!)
One Stop Craft Challenge - distressing
Digital Tuesday - red, white and blue
Dare U 2 Digi Stamp - the great outdoors
Cute Card Thursday - school's out for summer
Stampin' B's Challenge - polka dots

That's it for today folks.  Thanks for stopping by and popping in a comment.  You know you've just made my day, don't you??  : )  Until next time...
Denise

Stamp:  Sugar Nellie Puppy dog tails, SU (sentiment, can't remember set)
Paper:  October Afternoon The Thrift Shop
Ink:  Memento tuxedo black (for sentiment)
Supplies:  Ribbon, MS dots
Technique:  copic markers, shading with prismacolor pencils