Inspired by Challenge #262 -- GNOMES

When I saw that this week's Inspired by Challenge #262 was all about GNOMES, I was in.

And just look at the adorable inspiration!

 

There's even a sketch by Laurel.

 Here's how I was inspired.

I assembled two gnomes with (retired) Photoplay papers and added a red heart

 on each of their hats. A woodgrain embossing folder was used on the background 

panel and the gnomes were adhered over it. The card was finished off with a red 

die cut sentiment. 

I don't know why but gnomes always make me smile. Supposedly they're not the

cleanest in terms of hygiene, and have grumpy personalities. I guess they become

as cute as we can make 'em!

Thanks for stopping by!

* * *

Edited to add: My card was chosen as the winner of the challenge!

Thank you, Laurel!

 

Poppystamps Challenge 11--The Heat is On

I'm joining Poppystamps Challenge 11, mainly because I wanted to play with

a Poppystamps die that I haven't used before--Brevilla Houses. Here's my card.

The challenge is The Heat is On and it looks like I concentrated the heat onto the rooftops!

After die cutting the houses from watercolor paper, I used a waterbrush to brush water
on the top portion of the houses then colored over with Zig Clean Color markers.

I blended the colors with water and let the ink fade on the bottom. I love that the doors
on the die cut piece actually swing open--how cute is that? I randomly popped out
some of the windows and left others intact for visual interest.

The houses were popped up on the bottom of Grout Gray card stock and I added

a strip of dark gray diagonal stripes on the bottom. The sentiment is from

Neat and Tangled and the tiny heart is from my stash of die cuts.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have a cool weekend!

InLinkz.com

Peace, love & joy

I so admire my stamping friends who are awesome fussy cutters! I've been known to change a hairdo or amputate an image--ouch! It must be my scissors...

And because I'm "scissors impaired", I love that some of my favorite stamp companies are coming out with dies that match some of their stamps.

Here's a quick card that I made using Poppystamps' new penguin stamp and die.  I clear embossed Hero Arts' Starry Sky Design Block--which kinda sorta looks like snow--then ink distressed with two different shades of distress inks.

The penguins are supposed to represent my hubby (green scarf) and me. It was quite addicting to stamp and die cut them. I have a whole army of penguins waiting to be attached to cards or tags.

Thanks for taking the time to visit today. I hope you're having a stress free week as the countdown to Christmas begins...

Stamps: Poppystamps. Hero Arts
Ink: Memento, Ranger distress ink, Fresh Ink, Versamark
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink
Other: Clear embossing powder, Poppystamps penguin die, Martha Stewart snowflake punch, 
Frosted Lace Stickles, dimensional adhesive

Welcome, Lily Pad!

Hello, friends! I hope you hopped here from Vicky's fabulous blog, because I am the second stop in the inaugural Lily Pad Blog Hop! Starting today, seven blogs will be featured daily and will culminate on Friday, April 1st with the Grand Opening of Lily Pad Cards.

Lily Pad Cards is a brand new challenge blog featuring challenges, interviews, articles, videos and great prizes from some awesome sponsors. And although it doesn't officially launch until April 1, 2011, you'll see a sneak peek every day until then.

Please stop by the different blogs and be sure to comment each day, because there are three prize packages with a total retail value of $800, including a $100 gift certificate to a very popular online store! Go here for specific prize details and contest rules.

The hop's theme is "Welcome" because we're welcoming Lily Pad Cards, and welcoming all of you to come and join the fun! Here's my card.

I used Poppystamps' Bobby Bird, paired with some Brioche papers from Memory Box. To make the banner, I punched out circles from the same Brioche paper and cut them in half, then stamped HELLO, using Lawn Fawn's Harold's ABCs. (The twine was recycled from a Lawn Fawn stamp order. Thanks, Kelly Marie!)

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Your next stop on the hop is Amy's awesome blog. I can't wait to see what she has in store for us! If you hit a bad link, you can always go to Lily Pad Cards and click on the next link in the hop. Please report any bad links to webmaster@inklinkz.com.

Happy Hopping! See you at the Lily Pad Grand Opening on April 1st!

Stamps: Poppystamps Bobby Bird, Lawn Fawn Harold's ABCs
Cardstock: Hero Arts kraft
Paper: Memory Box Brioche
Other: Copics, Nestabilities, Martha Stewart hydrangea border punch, 
circle punch, Liquid Pearls, pop dots, twine