Got grass?

Okay, maybe that's not the best title for a post but I tried growing some grass on my card for the first time!  I usually "ground" the image by coloring some shadow underneath but I wanted to try grass after seeing Kim's tutorial here.

After coloring sweet Nahla from The Greeting Farm's Roll Call set, I cut her out with the circle Nestabilities.

I followed Kim's instructions and I didn't have the exact colors that she used, but I followed her technique which was clear and concise.

I paired up the image with Basic Grey's Green at Heart patterned paper and used Pam's Saturday Sketch #26.

I'll have to try this again and use more olive green Copics to match the paper better.

Thanks, Kim, for a great tutorial and sharing a fun technique!

Stamp: The Greeting Farm
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Stampin Up
Patterned paper: Basic Grey
Ink: Memento 
Other: Copics, Nestabilities, pop dots

Saturday Sketch #26

It's Saturday Sketch time at Club Anya & Friends with another awesome sketch by Pam.

Here's my take on the sketch, using Oliver from the Oliver & Amelia "Journey" set. I colored him in sepia tones for a vintage look, and adjusted the size to fit a square card. I also added the sentiment that came with the set. 

Visit Club Anya to see the other team members' take on the sketch and play along with us. Don't forget to add your card to the Gallery!

Stamps: The Greeting Farm (Oliver and Amelia Journey)
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Martha Stewart kraft
Patterned paper: Making Memories ledger
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink, Tea Dye distress ink
Other: Copic markers, Nestabilities circle die, pop dots

Meet Creeper Jack

Creeper Jack, one of the new digis from The Greeting Farm, is described as "a little punk, a little Emo". I must admit, I didn't know what Emo meant. I know Goth. I sorta know punk. But Emo? Does it have to do with black hair?
(ETA: The very sweet Kim directed me here for info on everything Emo! Thanks, Kim....HuGs!)

I can't imagine Jack with any other hair color and he has the funkiest guy hairdo I've ever seen. I tried to color his hair the way my friend Lysa does but she makes it look way easier than it is! Did you see her video? Totally awesome. Makes you want to color shiny black hair.

All I can say is practice, practice, practice and it helps to chant: "Feather strokes, feather strokes...." Thanks for sharing your technique, Lysa!

And I hope you all have a great weekend...



Stamps: The Greeting Farm Creeper Jack digital image
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Stampin Up
Ink: Pumice Stone, Black Soot distress inks
Other: Copic markers, Nestabilities Labels Eight,
Tim Holtz embossing folder, red twine, pop dots

TD02 Challenge and Wild Card Wednesday

Note: I have two posts today! Please scroll down or click here to see my 

Wild Card Wednesday card and post. Thank you!

.....

Today's the 7th day of the month which means it's another challenge for Tiffany Doodles! This month's theme is "Birds and Windows" and here's my card.

I used Cute Birdy Hugs from Tiffany Doodles and colored him up with Copics. The card was Cuttlebugged to look like the outside of a house and I fashioned a window frame with the square Nestabilities. I punched out some butteflies, leaves, and flowers and adhered them to the front, and added some pearls for a touch of bling.

I ♥ Cosmo Cricket's mini alpha stickers! It comes in a variety of colors and fonts and makes for quick sentiments.

Do you like my play on words? Today happens to be Tiffany's birthday and I'd like to wish her a Happy Bird Day! Please visit the other team members and see their awesome takes on the challenge theme.

• Tiffany Doodles
• Tiffany Richards
• Cammy Wall
• Cindy Lee
• Deirdre Horgan
• Donna Mikasa--that's me!
• Julie Masse
• Kathy Racoosin
• Kim Schofield
• Lindsay Amrhein
• Peet Roeven
• Ruby McGuire
• Shannon Neparko
• Vanessa Menhorn
• Virginia Lu

You have a little over 3 weeks to create your card. The deadline for submissions is July 31st at midnight EST. You may use stamps from other companies but Tiffany offers lots of freebies here for you to download.

Use the Inlinkz feature to upload your creations here and also to our Flickr group and tag it "TD02". The prizes are:

• 7 digis of your choice for first place
• 5 digis of your choice for second place
• 3 digis of your choice for third place, and
• 3 digis of their choice to a random winner

We hope you'll join our "Birds and Windows" challenge!

Wild Card Wednesday--Pam's Color Challenge

Today is also Wild Card Wednesday at Club Anya & Friends and here's a swatch of the colors that Pam chose.

Here's my take on the colors, using Ruby and some yummy Basic Grey Kioshi paper. And once again, I used Cosmo Cricket's mini alpha stickers for the "sweet" sentiment.

Please visit Club Anya & Friends and see the cards made by the other team members and be inspired to give this color challenge a try.

* * *

Thanks so much for bearing with me through two posts! In case you missed it (and there's a huge probability I may have posted wrong), please click here to see the post on Tiffany Doodles' second challenge, "Birds and Windows".

A card for Grace

You may have read on other blogs about a little girl named Grace whose twin, Ellie passed away from cancer a few weeks ago. The very kind Jennifer McGuire is hosting a card drive for Grace to help cheer her up and ease the pain of losing her best friend.

She suggests silly cards or funny cards and if you have kids or grandkids, you can get them involved with cardmaking, too. You can get all the details of the card drive here, and read about Grace's family here.

For my card for Grace, I used Robbie Seal, a new Greeting Farm digi which made me smile as soon as I saw it and I hope that Grace will, too. Love those stacked cupcakes! Yum!









Stamps: The Greeting Farm, Cornish Heritage Farms
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Hero Arts notecard
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink
Other: Copic markers, Nestabilities Labels Eight, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots, Sakura Aqua Lip glaze pen, ribbon, buttons, pop dots

Cupcake girl

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a safe Fourth of July. Overall, it was a lot quieter in our neighborhood this year, maybe because of the possible ban on fireworks here in the islands.

Just wanted to share a new Pure Innocence digi image by Heather Ellis that I found here in her online store. I colored her with Copics, added some glaze on the frosting with a Sakura Aqua Lip pen, and white dots on her dress with a Sharpie poster paint pen.

I layered the image on a Cuttlebugged birthday background that was sanded to show the white core. And although you can't see it, the little pearls are Glitter Domes given to me by my sweet niece. Thanks, Heather!

Don't you love that huge cupcake? I'll be sending this to a little sweetheart who'll be turning 2 in a few days.


Stamps: Digistampcharacters by Heather Ellis
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Bazzill 
Other: Copics, Nestabilities Labels Eight, Cuttlebug birthday folder,
Sharpie poster paint pen, Aqua Lip clear glaze pen by Sakura,
Glitter Domes, sheer ribbon, pop dots

Happy 4th!

I had this idea brewing for several days and finally finished this card this morning. Asked my hubby what he thought it was and I was so happy when he said "Fireworks"!

I white embossed the Row of Houses and various flowers from the Buds & Stems set and ink distressed with Chipped Sapphire distress ink. I added some white dots with the Sharpie poster paint pen and added a red ribbon to finish off the patriotic theme.

Hope you all have a safe and Happy 4th of July!

Stamps: Hero Arts
Cardstock: Neenah Solar White
Ink: Versamark, Chipped Sapphire distress ink
Other: White embossing powder, Sharpie poster paint pen,
Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder, pop dots, ribbon

Got washi?

Hello and Happy Friday! I survived my first stamp preview/release/blog hop with Team Anya and it was so much fun! Thanks to those of you who stopped and hopped and left such sweet comments for me and my cards.

I hope you got to shop, too! Two new Creepers and Oliver and Amelia are now in the Greeting Farm store. And I saw Creeper Jack in the digi section, along with a few new Critters and Chibis!

Know what else is in the store?

Washi tape! This exciting product from Japan is a hot new trend in the papermaking world. You can do so much with it--even pull it off and reposition and retape without losing the stickiness. Pretty amazing stuff!

Here's a card that I made using the Brown Coffret washi tape set (which just sold out!) along with Creeper Wednesday. You can easily tear the tape, but I chose to trim it and lay it haphazardly behind Wednesday.

I even stamped the sentiment on it. How cool is that?

I hope you'll give washi tape a try. It comes in so many yummy colors and it's in the Greeting Farm store and moving fast!


Thanks, always, for visiting my blog. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Release Day & Blog Hop!

Hello there friends! Well, we've made it through a week of AMAZING previews and what better way to kick off RELEASE DAY than with a BLOG HOP? Sounds good? We thought so!

Thanks for sticking with us and today we are definitely making it worth your while! Not ONLY can you shop til' you drop RIGHT NOW at the TGF store, Team Anya has a special Design Team Blog Hop, and ONE LUCKY WINNER will take home ALL THREE Rubber releases! That's Creeper Monday, Creeper Wednesday, and the Oliver/Amelia "Journey" set.

I used sweet Oliver on my easel card and colored him with Copics. See the texture on his hat? My pal Kelly taught me how to texturize using the colorless blender. Thanks, Kelly!

And I couldn't resist putting some dots on his little hobo bag with my Sharpie poster paint pen.  Isn't he the cutest little traveler?

Be sure to start at the beginning at the Club Anya & Friends blog and continue on the hop. Here's the order in case you get lost:

• Club Anya & Friends blog
• Donna -- you are here!
• Pam
• Kim
• Traci
• Amy
• Kelly
• Jessica
• Club Anya & Friends blog

Leave a comment along the way and at the very end to say that you finished the hop. Remember, one lucky commenter will receive all 3 new rubber releases! Good luck and happy hopping!

ETA: The lucky winner of the new release is Barbara DeBose. Congrats, Barbara!