Baby It's Cold Outside

And talk about windy too!!! Yesterday it was in the 60s, today the 20s with ice and snow. I need to move south. Anyway, I thought the photo inspiration challenge over at Catch the Bug couldn't be more appropriate.

The sentiment tells it all!!! This Bugaboo image is called AKV Boy Winter and can be found HERE. I was inspired by the blues and browns too of the photo and I found in my stash a Gina K Designs kit that I used for the  papers, ribbon and brads. Now if I could just start using up all these wonderful paper kits that I have from various companies, I could then buy more!!!!!! It truly is an illness, isn't it??!! Enjoy your today and stay warm.

Sending You Smiles

It's day 3 of the online CAS card classes and I'm lovin' them! Now I didn't do my homework yet from yesterday, a single layer card. That's a very hard one for me. Today's class was all about fun techniques with ink. I played with the gradient stamping technique, using the Hero Arts ink I had on hand - Tide pool, Soft pool and Ocean. I used a stamp and die from PaperTrey Ink, Simple Sunflower. Now I know sunflowers are yellow, but that's the joy stamping gives, anything goes as far as color, there are no rules. Good thing for me as I am always breaking the rules in the color world!!! Now this is my third post for today, so be sure and scroll down for my usual Wednesday posts, Fresh Brewed Designs and Sweet Sketch Wednesday.

Sweet Mr. Snowman

Happy Wednesday. We have a new sketch for you to try at Sweet Sketch Wednesday. It really is a fun one so be sure and give it a try. We have a new sponsor this week too...

 A loud shout out of a welcome to Birdie Brown. Thank you for sponsoring us this week, offering our winner 3 digital images of their choice!!

 Hello everyone! I'm Torico, the owner of Birdie Brown. I'm a mom to two kids who live in Japan. I've been loving doodling since I was a child, and have a passion for card making now!
At my Etsy shop, Birdie Brown, I'm offering whimsical and cute (Japanese "kawaii") digital stamps created from my original illustrations. I love "simple & cute" designs. So, most of my digital stamps are designed to match such a style. If you also like "simple & cute" style, you'll find something you have been wanting on Birdie Brown!!

Here's my card using the adorable Just For You image. Have I mentioned to you before how much I adore snowmen? So imagine how happy I was when I received this image to play with!!!! Now it's your turn to give our sketch a try, can't wait to see what you come up with. 

I Heart You

We have a new challenge for you over at the Fresh Brewed Blog and it's called the Caffeine Crazy Challenge. Now it will only happen on the 5th Wednesday of a month and lasts for only 24 hours -- talk about fun!! The theme for today is to use red. I put to use one of the new digis just released on Monday, You Captured My Heart from Fresh Brewed Designs. I don't know what species of spider he is, all orange and dressed to the nines, but he sure is a cutie...for a spider!! Hope you can find time today to join us for our red Caffeine Crazy Challenge. 

Hooray for Hockey!!

I am quite the sports fan, so I am super excited that hockey is back!! I so enjoy watching the Pittsburgh Penguins, jumping up and down cheering when they score! I couldn't resist making a card using an image from Fresh Brewed Designs called Boy Hockey Player. What's fun is Heather also has a girl hockey player image too! I went with the black and gold colors of Pittsburgh sports teams as well as keeping it clean and simple with two strips of washi tape and brads. Thanks for stopping by and taking a look. 

Another CAS

I simply had to make another card from today's Online Card Classes CAS 2. Each month two of my friends come over and we make 4 - 6 clean and simple Christmas cards. I design them, cut up all the papers, and we spend the morning stamping and, of course, talking! I immediately went with a Christmas theme for this sketch so I can now use it for our February get together. I used a PaperTrey Ink stamp set (Peaceful Poinsettia) for the flower and sentiment, and from Hero Arts (Looped Flower Pattern) for the background. Quick and easy! Looking forward to tomorrow's class.

Love You Forever

We had some nasty weather overnight - lots of ice, snow and rain mixed. There was a 2 hour delay for the boys, and once everyone was gone, I hit Starbucks and sat at my computer for day 1 of the Online Card Class CAS. Several great videos to watch, lots of awesome tips, and of course, some wonderful clean and simple card samples. Our homework today was to create our own cards using the sketches from today's class. I went with a card created by Amber Kemp-Gerstel. I did change mine up a bit - I added a layer and the twine as well as used a different stamp set (Trendy Tree Tops from PaperTrey Ink). So much fun, I hope to create more from today's inspiration. And just think, there's still more to come!!!