Sea You Later...

The theme this week at Pile It On is "Stripes and/or Plaid," and since I don't really have any plaid paper I concentrated on stripes!

I used Alligator Swim by our sponsor, 2 Cute Ink:

I came up with the sentiment myself; not sure I should be proud of that, ha! I made the banner in InDesign, using the font Atlas. The banner, alligator, and starfish are printed/stamped on "Sea Otter" textured DP from Core'Dinations.

The starfish is from a Recollections set, and stamped with Staz-On and inked with blue & purple inks (Ranger & Versamark). I backed the banner with my favorite ribbon, Celery Striped/Chevron Twill from MayArts (purchased at Can You Digi It?).

The alligator piece was embossed with a Fiskars Texture Plate in my BigShot, inked with Wild Wasabi (SU!), and detailed with a Copic and a white glaze pen (Sakura). He's attached with an Action Wobble, as if he could get any cuter.

The "sea" was made with a digital patterned paper from Papercraft Inspirations magazine (I love how they offer their free papers as digital downloads as well). The striped background is from a 6x6 Echo Park pack.

I added Mircobeads to the corners with Glossy Accents. All the shiny blue detail was done with a Sakura glaze pen.

I know that someday I'll find the perfect occasion for this card; for now, it just makes me smile!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Card Crafter's Circle #77: Stripe Me Silly
Cutie Pie Challenge: 3, 2, 1 recipe (3 DPs, 2 images, 1 sentiment)
Eureka Stamps: The Great Outdoors
Ooh La La Creations: Inspired by Nature
Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes
Songbird Challenges: All Creatures Great & Small
The Perfect Sentiment: Humorous Sentiment

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us this week at Pile It On,

Hippo Birthday to you!

We're doing something a little different at Pile It On this week: the challenge theme and sponsor coordinates with the current Sunshine Mail Foundation Challenge. I'm on the Sunshine Mail Design Team and am the sponsor coordinator for Pile It On, so this was my clever idea... hoping to get lots of cards for the kids!


I used 2 Cute Ink's Birthday Hippo digi stamp, which also is offered as a rubber stamp at Whimsy Stamps:

This is pretty simple card; I embossed the background with my Darice embossing folder, cut the sentiment with an amuse studio die, and deckled the edges of the  image with decorative scissors. The buttons were made by adhering silk ribbon to white cardstock and cutting/embossing with an SU! Embosslit. The "ribbon" behind the DP strip is Dry Wall Tape, my current favorite embellishment!

Digi Sketch Challenge

Inspiration/Challenges:

1. Bearly Mine #75: Anything Goes
2. Di's Digis Designs: All about Children
3. Digi Sketch Challenge: Sketch
4. Digistamps 4 Joy: Birthdays are fun
5. Digital Tuesday #199: Birthdays
6. Creative Card Crew #31: Birthday
7. Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes
8. Paper Shelter Challenge #101: Animal Magic
9. The Pink Elephant Monday Card Challenge: Anything Goes
10. Sisterhood of Crafters: Birthdays
    

Update: This card was a random runner-up for Digistamps 4 Joy Challenge #61.

Thank you for visiting & hope you'll join us for the Pile It On challenge,

Happy Birthday wishes with Sunshine Mail

Happy March! Today begins a new 2-week Sunshine Mail Foundation Challenge. The only real rule is that you send in at least one card (Donation guidelines here). We usually like to collect "Happy Mail," but Sunshine Mail does provide Birthday Cards for a homeless shelter, so our theme is Happy Birthday in hopes we'll get some great cards for the kids!

We're sponsored again by 2 Cute Ink, and I loved their Birthday Dino so much that I made two cards:

Design-wise, the cards are pretty much identical:

I'm entering these cards into the following Challenges (both or either!):
Created With Love: Bright and Cheery
Deep Ocean Challenge #46: For A Boy
Digi Makeover Challenge: Stripes
Melonheadz Friends Challenge: Child related

Thank you for visiting & hope you'll join us for the Sunshine Mail Foundation Challenge,