Dilly Beans Friday Challenge - Texture

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Hello to all my new and old followers alike!  So happy to have you on board! :)  It's time for another Friday Challenge over at Dilly Beans!  I am so super duper excited as Megan has kindly let me stay on as Guest Designer for the month of May!!!  I'm still hoping to be a part of her amazing team and am soooo honored that she is letting continue this month! :0)

Today's challenge is Texture.  For my project I created a card with lots of texture, featuring the Ragdoll Ruby Digi (#297).  I just love the way this turned out and I hope you do too!  Be sure to check out the store because Megan has added lots of new adorable digis recently!

 Closeup of Ragdoll Ruby

Full card (be sure to click on the pic to see the texture)

Deets:  For this card I used black Recollections cardstock that I embossed with the Seeing Spots Cuttlebug Folder, using my Big Shot machine (for all textured items on this card).  I used some Ranger Ink Distressed Stain in White Picket Fence to give the black a more grungy feel.  Then I sanded over the dots with an emery board to make them really noticeable.  Next I took two three inch squares of patterned papers from the Basic Grey 6x6" Stack, Marjolaine.  I embossed the arglye one with Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Folder and the Lime Green Patterned Paper was embossed using the Mesh Cuttlebug Folder.  I then added black ink across the swiss dots to make them pop up a bit and I added distress stain (same as above) to sink into the "impressed" pattern on the lime green paper.  Afterwards I ran my silver Creative Memories pen over the top to add even more  dimension and I sprinkled some lime green glitter over this piece before it completely dried.  I wish you could see it in person!  So much better than in the pics! ;) 

I used my Copics for Ragdoll Ruby in two shades of blue/green and lime/olive green, as well as a touch of gray for the bow. I then fussy cut her.  I love how she turned out!  I popped her off the page with 1/4" pop dots. 

I cut a small tag from a tag making punch I have (Marvy I think) and used a Paper Smooches stamp for the sentiment.  Then I inked around the edges with Black Cat's Eye ink.  To finish off the card, I added several layers of paper and fabric flowers with large silver brads as their centers.  Then I used that same silver Creative Memories pen to doodle around the whole card and voila!  There you have it! 

Thanks so much for joining me today and if you would like to take part in the challenge and see what the awesome DT has created please hop on over to Dilly Beans!  C'mon...You know you want to! ;)  *nudge, nudge*

Since you're here, leave a comment!  I love getting them! :)

XO ~ Amy Jo

Dilly Beans Friday Challenge - Shades of Pink and Black

Hi Friends,

I am so sorry I haven't been able to do a whole lot of anything this past week.  I have had a migraine since Easter and it is just not letting up!!!

I'm super excited about my 2nd Guest Design post for Dilly Beans Challenge Blog and actually got two cards created late last night!!! Just in time for the challenge. ;)  Our challenge this week is "Shades of Pink & Black".  For this challenge I have used the #352 Heart-Flowers Border, #348 - Amalia's Daisy, #374 Flowers & Love, and #263 Zombie Girl with Bow.  I hope you enjoy my cards and will join us on the Challenge Blog!

Click on any of the links above to go to the Dilly Beans Store!

 Zombie Girl with Bow

3 different digis used here - Amalia with Daisy, Hearts & Flowers Border and Flowers & Love (the words)

For my projects today I used a few different mediums; Copics, colored pencils, Zig pens, Stickles glitter glue,  Creative Memories pens and my white gelly roller .  The first project is made with two different zebra print cardstocks from Recollections.  I used the black/white zebra print for the background to frame Zombie Girl and the pink on pink zebra print for the main part of the card.  It's nice because when it opens, it's a solid pink inside so you don't have to put another layer on the inside of the card if you don't want to!  I used two strips of ribbon from my stash to put behind the framed digi stamp and then added some Making Memories gunmetal brads for a little "rock 'n' roll" bling. ;)  I also added some black rhinestones to polish it off.  For the image itself, I used several shades of pink, along with silver, black, gray tones.  I drew the little spirals with my zig pen and added a little shading to the bow with a silver Creative Memories gelly pen. I added some more eyelashes to her upper lids and added some doodles to the heart hanging down from her.  

For Dilly Beans images I don't like to clutter up the card with lots of embellishments and additions because the images are so great that I don't want anything to detract from them.  That's why these cards seem more simple than some of my other creations.  The images are so much fun to color and for a while I was trying to be so perfect with it, then I decided to just PLAY!!!  That's one thing we should all remember from time to time. ;)  I've decided that my imperfections make it my own, you know?

If you haven't been to see the team's projects yet, OMGoodness you are in for a special treat.  These ladies are so talented and I always get inspiration from their projects. I would also like to say a quick thank you to the teammates who stopped by to say "hi" last week.  I really appreciate it. ;)

For my second project I used a hot pink cardstock from Recollections as the card base and added a polka dotted background from Echo Park.  I inked my edges with Blackbird Cat's Eye ink.  I had colored my Hearts/Flowers border with Copics and my white gelly roller and placed it next, using a Zig 2-way Glue Pen.  Then I decided to use Stickles on the Amalia's Daisy image rather than coloring the flower traditionally.  I used Fruit Punch and Silver Stickles for her flower and used a combo of Copics/Zig Pens for coloring her hair, face and adding polka dots to  her dress.  I decided to pop her up off the border and added the sentiment "Love Grows in my Garden" with pop dots as well.  I'm very pleased with the combination of these digis.  I thought they were perfect together! ;)  Hope you enjoy them as much as I have. :0)

Thank you all so very much for stopping by today!  Since you're here, please leave a comment.  I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks again to the lovely ladies of Dilly Beans for letting me join in on their fun!  Don't forget to check out the challenge and link up your projects too!!!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Challenges I'm entering:

TPE - #143 - Flowers (Card #2)
Use It Tuesday - #29 - Anything Goes - Everything listed in the details (body of the post) is from my stash!
Forever Night - Freaky Friday Wicked Challenge (Card #1)

Dilly Beans Friday Challenge - Easter

Good morning all my wonderful and thoughtful bloggy friends,

How much I love you all - old friends and new friends, alike.  I have been overwhelmed by your kind words and honest replies to my posts lately.  Bless you all.  I still want to write a follow-up post, but have been very happily busy actually crafting a little more lately so that comes first for now.  I haven't forgotten I need to draw a blog candy winner for the St. Patty's day hop as well.  Sorry for my tardiness!  To my friend, Leanne, I have not forgotten about you either and to several of my friends, I have cards to get out to you as well.  It's all here on my mind, I just haven't had the cooperation with my body yet, but I'll get there and want you all to know I never forget the kindness you have all shown me in so many different ways, be it cards and gifts or comments and emails.  I appreciate it all. :)

First off I just have to say thank you to Megan for her sheer awesomeness and amazing talent that inspires me to no end!  Thanks for giving me the opportunity to join your team for the month of April and possibly more. ;)  And thank you for being so incredibly sweet and understanding when it comes to my Fibro.

Today I am super excited as it's my first Friday Guest Design spot for the lovely Megan and the talented gals at Dilly Beans Designers & Friday Challenge Blog.  As I mentioned in my earlier post, Megan had said I could do up to four projects for each challenge and believe it or not, I have actually accomplished that task (at least for this first challenge, still working on the others)! ;0)  My first two projects for the Easter Challenge are some of Dilly Beans' (DB) cute country style images.  The second two projects are some of the darling people images that are available in the STORE.  Okay, well one is actually not quite a person, it's a zombie bunny, but she has a personality all her own. ;0)

Let's get on to the projects, shall we?  Don't forget to click on the pics to see them in a larger format for better details.  Project details are listed below each individual project.

 Project 1 - Outside of card

 Project 1 - Outside Closeup

Project 1 - Inside of Card

For Project 1 I used the Posie Bunny digi stamp from DB, colored with Copics.  I'm very happy with the way this turned out.  I just decided to kind of play around with them and see what I could do.  I made the bow a peachy color with some lovely peony colored polka dots and I am just loving the way the floral bouquet turned out.  I had so much fun with this image!  I purchased a lot of my Copics from Fluorishes, LLC.  They have great sets of three or four Copics that won't cost you an arm and a leg, and it's a wonderful way to build your collection!  

The card itself, is cardstock from Recollections and the printed papers are from my stash.  I used a random basket rubber/wood stamp that I had on hand and stamped the image onto patterned paper, which I also used for the background of the inside of this card. I then fussy cut around the basket and also the inside of the basket.  I wanted the bunny to show through, so I cut out a window in the purple cardstock as well. Then I popped up the basket with some pop dots. I used a clear Easter egg stamp (all over) to make the background on the front of the card.  I stamped it, using a rainbow pad from Joann's.  The "Happy Easter" scroll stamp is one I found in the $1 bin at Michael's, inked with Stampin' Up Basic Black.  Perfect for many projects! I then added a bow to the basket from Really Reasonable Ribbon.  I always love buying my ribbon from them.  Fabulous company with great prices!  

For my second project, I decided to make a card that went with Project 1, so I used many of the same elements.  Again, please click the images to get a better idea of the details/colors.  The background of this card is actually a minty green from Recollections.

 Project 2 - Outside of Card

 Project 2 - Inside of Card, Left Side

 Project 2 - Inside of Card, Right Side

Project 2 - Inside of Card

For Project 2 I decided to use the "Hatching Chicky" from DB stamps.  I printed it out on white cardstock and OMGosh I was soooooo amazed at the line thickness and quality of these (all DB) images when I printed them!  I used my Copics again to color the egg and the chicky and used several different colors in the same family for both the egg and the chick, with a touch of gray for some shadowing.  This is a perfect image for Easter, as well as for many other occasions if you want to use it for one of those "Hey Chick" or "Popping up to See You" type of cards.

For this one, I used a green patterned paper from my stash to stamp the basket on and then I outlined it with my black Zig pen (did the same for Project 1) just to make it look a little sharper.  I fussy cut the basket and the window again with a craft knife (mine's from Doodlebug) and it surprisingly wasn't nearly as difficult or time-consuming as I thought it would be!  I popped up the basket again and then I added some orange Offray ribbon for the bow to finish it off.

Again, I stamped the background of the front of the card with that same clear egg stamp and I used two different shades of Martha Stewart ink.  Love the way it looks in person.  Sorry the pics don't quite do it justice.  I also inked around the edges of the card with the MS ink as well.

For the inside of the card I wanted to create my own sentiment so I used some darling stickers from Bo Bunny.  Can look up the exact sheet if you would like. ;0)  Behind the chicky I used a gorgeous paper from Stampin' Up because I just really wanted the yellow chicky head to stand out.  I love the combo of those colors together.  I inked my edges and then added the same Michael's stamp and the Dilly Beans Hatching Chicky image.

The 3rd Project was created using the first image I fell in love with from Dilly Beans, the Zombie Bunny.  OMG, I just LOVE her so very much!!!  I am so incredibly happy with the way this one turned out and I hope you will all love her as much as I do.  :0)  This is so out of my normal realm of images that I use for my projects and this is just the beginning of this style.  I have many more that I'm working with from DB and I have finally decided that it's ok to create things I love, without having to have a specific person in mind to send them to.  It took me a while to grasp that concept! LOL  

I decided to keep this project super simple and just let the image shine.  I went over paper after paper and layout after layout and decided that simple was simply  the best. ;)  Again, click the pics for a large image!  The colors are soooo fun!

 Project 3 - Outside of Card

Project 3 - Closeup of Image

Alrighty, for this lovely little Zombie Bunny I just had the best time coloring her!  I used a lavender/grey tone for her face, with olive green eyelids.  I used yellow and orange shades on her hair and her jacket is pink with purple.  The carrot has two shades of orange and two or three shades of green.  Her background has two shades of green and I used the colorless blender to give it a fun effect.  I decided to leave the black/white border as is and I fussy cut around the whole image. 

I didn't want to do anything to detract from the image so I chose papers that bring out every color.  I was stoked to see that I had papers that, to me, were so perfect for this project.  The three strips are all from Stampin' Up. (SU)  I tell you, I just adore their paper lines!  Stop over and say hi to Jill and please tell her Amy Jo (Courchaine) sent you!!!  She is a wonderful consultant!

The background of the card is again, that same mint green cardstock from Recollections and the layer on top of that is another green print I had in my stash (note it is the same line as the yellow from the Posie Bunny card and the green from the Hatching Chicky card).  I decided I wanted to distress it a bit so I used my emery board and roughed it all up, as well as inking it with my Martha Stewart ink.  I inked the actual cardstock as well.  The strips of SU paper were inked with Rust SU ink.

The inside of this card is still in progress...  I need some help here.  I want to make up a quirky "Little Bunny Foo-Foo" type of poem/sentiment, but haven't quite figured it out yet.  Doesn't she look like a perfect Little Bunny Foo Foo?  I mean, she was a little demented right? ;0) LOL  Thing is, I couldn't decide if this darling Zombie Bunny should be Little Bunny Foo Foo or if the Amalia Easter Bunny in the next project would make a better Little Bunny Foo Foo.  I'm almost thinking the Amalia one is too sweet to be dubbed that title though.  Help me decide friends!  I would LOVE to get your input and then I'll show you the inside after WE decide. ;)  Check out this next project and let me know what you think!

Sorry friends, got in a flare before I could finish Project 4 and decided instead to use it for one of the upcoming Dilly Beans challenges.  Look forward to that post later this month!!!  Here are the details (a teaser for you) of the project as well as a picture of the image I will be using for this project that way you can help me decide still for the Little Bunny Foo Foo question. :0)

 For Project 4 I used the brand new Amalia Easter Bunny!  OMG, did I squeal when I saw her in the store!!!  I'm not kidding, I emailed Megan immediately and said I MUST have her! LOL  Oh, I just fell in love with her darling little bunny body and I hope you all will too.  I did this one in colored pencil and I am very happy with the simplicity of that.

Again, I decided to "match" her to the Zombie Bunny card and will likely use the same paper lines and general colors for her.  I colored her in colored pencils and by no means, do I have any idea when it comes to shading and highlighting, but I still love her just the same.  (Hence the need for some classes here.) ;0)  I decided I didn't want to fussy cut her as close as I have been doing the other images because I thought she would look lovely with just a small border around her so I cut her with my scissors and just eyeballed the distance.  I'm very pleased with this effect!

Alright friends, now it's your turn to link up your projects at Dilly Beans Challenge Blog for your chance to win some free digis!.  I thank you all so very much for stopping by today and please do leave your comments.  Don't forget the Little Bunny Foo Foo conundrum!  Also, even if you don't enter the challenge at Dilly Beans Challenge Blog, I would love for you to stop by there and check out the amazingly talented designers work and leave some love there too and become a follower if you like what you see.  Tell them I sent ya!  One thing you really don't want to miss is the Dilly Beans Store so you can purchase some of these awesome images.  Megan's store is huge!  She has so many images, I was truly stunned!  Can't wait to hear what you all think & please come back here and tell me what you purchase if you do make a purchase!  Maybe, oh just maybe a little tiny bribe here I will do... ;0) -- If you purchase something from Dilly Beans and come back here and leave me a comment telling me what you bought, I will choose one or two random winners to pick out a card I have made that they would like to have.  It doesn't have to be these, it can be any one from my blog postings (as long as I still have them - or I can make a duplicate if you find one you really want).  How does that sound?  :0)

Have fun shopping and creating, my Darlings!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Challenges I'm entering:

Zombie Bunny Card - Beyond the Burtonesque Dolls - Rotten Eggs for a Wicked Easter Challenge

Guest Designing for Dilly Beans for the Month of April, maybe more??? ;)

Hello my Dearest Friends,

First off, I just want to mention that I have read all of your comments and emails and am extremely grateful and touched.  I will be writing an update post next to talk more about all of that, but just had to mention it so you all would know that I've been reading what you've written. ;)

The reason I'm posting today is because I have some SUPER exciting news!  Well, for me it is anyways. ;)  I've kept this secret for a while.  Behind the scenes over here, I have simply fallen in love with Megan's amazing designs from Dilly Beans and I actually got a wild hair and decided to contact her and ask her if there's any way that I could design for her and promote her digis in exchange for some.  Sooooo, as wonderful as she is, she said yes!  So I get to start with being a guest designer for the WHOLE month of April!!!  Now I'm going to be honest here and tell you that I may be allowed to be on her team if all goes well this month so I'm asking a HUGE favor of all my friends...  Please, please go to her store (link above) and her Challenge Blog and become a follower there (tell her I sent ya).  Maybe, just maybe you could put in a good word for me? ;)  I'll post here as soon as I do the designs for the next challenge so you all can join in and see what I've been doing while I'm up at night in bed.  Thank GOD for digis to color in bed!!!  I have found a new passion and I will be taking Copics coloring classes online to develop better skills.

I want to give you a little personal tidbit here...When I came across Megan's stamps, the first ones I fell in love with are a genre I've never personally worked with much before -- kinda goth/creepy, yet still cute.  Well I do LOVE Tim Burton and her work reminded me so much of Tim Burton's that I just couldn't resist contacting her and telling her how much I simply adore not only her digis, but her amazingly beautiful artwork (that she sells no less) as well!!!  OMG, I don't want to share this because I want to buy everything she does, but I feel it's only fair to share with my loving friends so here's her Etsy store, as well - My Creative Bliss.  I hope you know, I'm only kidding about the sharing. ;)  I just love her  work so much that I bought a bunch of it after spending about three hours searching through every single digi stamp and all of her artwork! LOL  I have to mention to you that she has tons of other styles as well.  She ranges from Americana/Folk to the Goth/Cutie/Creepy style and I love every single bit!  I am sooooo excited to share with you, my creations using her digis.  I have been having a blast with them!

Now, I'm fairly new to Copics and don't have any formal training yet, but I hope you will still like them and realize the awesome potential there is working with digis.  I honestly thought I would never want to work with digis because I am the type of person who likes to hold something in my hand, be it catalogs, stamps, books, etc.  I've always found it kind of strange to purchase digital items because you don't actually have the item stored physically somewhere. LOL  Now, I've realized that OMG, it's a great way to not have to store so much stuff!!!  My craft room is soooo crowded as it is that I don't know where to put half of my things. ;p  So, with that being said I now love digi stamps and especially Dilly Beans.

Alright friends, thank you so much for sharing my exciting news with me today and for your amazing support.  I will be guest designing for four challenges so far so look for those posts coming up! :0)

XO ~ Amy Jo

P.S.  I know a lot of you have heard of Dilly Beans before, but I must have been under a rock (or well, maybe in bed too much). LOL ;)  She has some new designs and they are so darn perfect, I'm just ecstatic to work with them and work with the lovely team on the challenge blog! *squeals*