Rainbow Trout Male Birthday Challenge

 Hello, this week is a busy week for me.  I am hosting the challenge this week at Crafty Creations where my theme is to create a male birthday card.  Then I am also hosting the RAQs Challenge on th4 Cricut message board this week.  Both will use the following sketch.

 

This is a Tami Mayberry sketch that I found and thought it could be adapted well for a male card.  Also Delicious Doodles is our sponsor and she gave the design team some great images to work with.  Be sure and check out Crafty Creations to see all the DT creations.  

Here is my card using the sketch and the trout image from Delicious Doodles.

I am pretty happy with how this turned out.  I colored the trout using my Promarkers and Copic markers.  After I was done coloring I brushed over the colors with Perfect pearls to give it a shimmer look.  It looks really neat in person, almost like the shine of a real fish.  I had to spray it with hair spray to seal it so the Perfect Pearl would not rub off.

Here is a closer look at the fish.

I Cuttlebugged the green panel.  The happy birthday is stamp. 

Thanks for stopping by and make sure you play along at Crafty Creations and RAQs challenge on the Cricut message board.

Thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment. I love to read them, besides that way I knew you were here to take a peak.

Challenges for this card
Tuesday Throw Down  Birthday  -  end 8/14
One Stitch at a Time  use a digi image  -  end 8/13
Crafty Our Days Away  Birthday  -  end 8/18
Anything Challenge   Birthday/celebration  end 8/22
Card Makin Mamas  Birthday  -  end 8/18
Make it Monday  Always anything goes   -  end 9/10

Asian Lady

Now you all know that I am working real hard on my coloring with my Copic and Promarkers. This one is colored mostly using my Promarkers because I had the grays and black in the Promarkers. Copics & Promarkers work well together and since I had won an entire set of Promarkers last year from Enfys I have lot of colors to chose from.  I see so many awesome talented people in blogland and I just dream about being able to color like them.  I have been really trying to get the shading part.   I think I am inching closer and closer to getting it.  For this one I followed one of the images that Melissa Made, I think she is the most awesome Copic color-er out there.  I knew she had done someone with black hair so I put her image up on my screen and tried to follow.  

This week at Crafty Creations our hostess is Deena, she is so talented.  She got Digis With Attitude to be our sponsor and this in one of the images we had to work with.
The challenge was to make some kind of invite, which was a bit hard for me but I thought this image worked well to invite someone to go eat Chinese food.   The saying was computer generated, that I printed on card stock and then cut around it using one of the label cuts on Calligraphy Collection, ran a silver ribbon through it and attached it.  Now it is attached temporarily as I am not sure this will stay an invitation.  The silver paper is kind of glittery and the black paper is glossy, hard to tell in the picture.  I wasn't quite sure what that thing in her hand was so I just colored it light pink.
I added some Crackle Accents and a pearl to the flower in her hair.  I also added some very small black pearls to the flowers on her dress or Kimono.

 
 Another view (just cause I took the picture LOL)

 

I am so very very happy with how this came out.  It has to be one of my all time favorites as the coloring came out much better than I thought I could do.  I think I have figured out one of my problems with the shading.  I was coloring in the whole area and then trying to shade, I think I learned that some of the area has to be left without any color.
So if you have invitations to make come on over to Crafty Creations and join us.

Thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment. I love to read them, besides that way I knew you were here to take a peak.

Challenges for this card:
Digis With Attitude    Anything Goes  -  ends 8/30
For Fun Challenges  Anything Goes  -  ends 8/9
Make it Monday  Always Anything Goes  -  ends 8/8
Woodware USA  Anything Goes  -  ends 8/7
All Sorts Challenge   Free & Easy
Craft Your Passion  Anything goes  -  ends 8/7
Crafts and Me   Anything Goes  -  ends 8/8

Let's Make Some Music

This week at Crafty Creations our challenge is Boys to Men, making a male creations, whether it be young, old or anything in between.  I don't know about you but male cards can be challenge and who can't use more of them in there stash for future use.

Christine is our wonderful talented hostess this week, this is her first time hosting for us so come on make her feel good and join in the challenge.  She got  Lili of the Valley as our sponsor and got us the cute LOTV images to work with, perfect for our theme of Boyz to Men.    Plus one random winner will receive a gift voucher to LOTV.

I chose this adorable image of a little boy playing the guitar.

Isn't he cute with his little doggie there singing along.  I colored him using my Copics and Promarkers depending on which had the color I wanted.  Now don't look too close as I am just learning this coloring stuff, but feel like I am making some improvement.   The background music paper is printed from Imagine using the Imagine More cartridge.  I printed it on tan paper to give it a worn like look.  I cut him out using my Spellbinders and then cut a scalloped shadow circle with my Imagine.

I am not too happy with his little music book, I think I over colored it, but in the end it does kind of match the background.  Can't see it in the picture but I used my Gelly Roll clear pen for the strings and tuning knobs on the guitar.
So come on what are you waiting for, get those guy cards made and join our challenge this week, look forward to all those guy cards for inspiration.
Thanks for stopping by my little blog,  hope you found it likable enough to become a follower.

Entered in the following challenges
Digis With Attitude! anything goes ends 9/1
Paper Crafting Journey for the male/man ends 7/19
Deep Ocean Challenge A card ends 7/18
C Inspirations   No flowers ends 7/18
Lollipop Crafts  Anything goes ends 7/30
Cupcake Craft Boy Oh boy oh boy #146 ends 7/17
Clearly i Stamp  Punches, Die Cuts, Cut Outs ends 7/14
Pink Gem  Let's hear for the boys  - ends 7/22

Strawberries

Thank you berry much for stopping by..................I made this card for the challenge this week at Crafty Creations,  this week by our challenge was to make a thank you card and is sponsored by
 

              Hop on over and take a love at the cute images there are

I chose to use this strawberry image from Doodle Pantry and the sentiment stamp is a Gina K Design stamp.

I am still just learning to use my Copic and Promarkers and had a heck of a time with these strawberries, I am still not real happy with them.  The leaves came out OK, but I just could not get the coloring and shading correct on the strawberries.  I covered them with Diamond Glaze and that seemed to help somewhat.
Here is a closer look of the strawberries.

Red is hard and it bleed out of the lines and I just could not get all of it off. I distressed the edges of the white & red papers with my Tim Holtz distressing tool.  I double edged the red checked and red with my Martha Stewart punch.  This scalloped edge is one of my favorites.
So glad you stopped by, but be sure and head on over to Crafty Creations and join in the fun.  It is an easy challenge and we can never have too many thank you cards on hand.

I will entering this card in the following challenges
Top Tip Tuesday  T......is for  ends 7/4
Bows and Berries  thank you/appreciation ends 7/2

Indian Girl..............

I made this card for Crafty Creations where I am on the design team.   The challenge theme for this week is "Just Imagine" so let your creative juices flow and join in our fund.  Our hostess is the very talented  JuelMarie, stop by and have a look around her blog.

The sponsor she got us this week is

Patties Creations 

go have a look around her Esty store, this Indian girl

is a great example of what she has.

I colored the Indian using my Promarkers, at first I colored her using my Prisma Pencils and decided it was a bit to subdued so I colored another one.  I had bought this ribbon a very long time ago and never had an opportunity to use it and I thought it went perfect with this image.

I sued my deckled rectangle Nesties to cut her out.  I added the silver concho and some leather cord and beads to add to the southwestern theme.  I also blinged her up a bit with adding beads and rhinestones to her outfit.  A closer picture so you can see it.

Well this challenge runs from 6/15 through 6/21 so get your imaginations going and join us at CRAFTY CREATIONS.
So glad you stopped by.

Over the Rainbow.................................

..........that is the theme/challenge this week at Crafty Creations hosted by our fabulous Peggy.  She went out and got us a tremendous sponsor this week, Whimsy Stamps and we got to play with a few of Crissys line that fit into the theme.   So make sure you stop by Whimsy Stamps and look around, there are a lot of great images there.
So on to my card, I loved this cute little lion and was going to go more with the Wizard of Oz theme but took a little turn. LOL  It was suppose to on the way to Emerald City.  I even made a yellow brick road which I will use later on another project.

 

The rolling hills I cut from the new Pop Up Neighborhood cartridge, and I think I am really going to like this one, it is the fourth Cricut Circle cartridge.  I have for sometime wanted rolling hills on a cartridge.  I know there is some on Country Life but I love the ones on Pop Up.   I Cuttlebugged the brown hill and the light green hill.  The front small hill is suppose to look like flowers growing, not sure if I accomplished that or not.   The trees are actually part of the hills cut.   I added a few red pearls to the one tree to look like apples.

The background paper is cloud paper that I had and then I made the rainbow, using some reinkers and a sponge, kind of fun to do.  I even paid special attention to get the colors in the correct order.  I then sprayed it with Glimmer Mist to give it some sparkle, can't really see that in the picture.

The lion I colored using my Promarkers and Copics, I covered the flower with glossy accents and a brown pearl in the center.  The lion head I cut out twice and pop dotted one on top, then pop dotted the lino so it looks like he is standing in front.

Now I wasn't sure about the sentiment box, which is stamped, so it is on there temporarily.   I feel like it might cover up too much of the bottom layer.  What do you think?

Well I am really happy that you stopped by and I would super happy if you left a comment.  And make sure you stop by Crafty Creations and join in our challenge.  Who knows you could win the prize from Whimsy Stamps

Challenge entries
Bearly Mine Challenge - anything goes ends 6/24
Deep Ocean Challenge - anything goes ends 6/23
Crafts and Me  - stamp something ends 6/14
A Spoonfull of Sugar - summer ends 6/13
Sentimental Sundays  - inspired by a song ends 6/11

Pink & Orange Challenge

This week at Crafty Creations our challenge was to use PINK & ORANGE!.  If you have never tried to put this color combination together it really is a challenge.  Also our sponsor this week is 2 Cute Rubber Stamps where she gave us these cute images to use.  Be sure you stop by and check out what she has, she had digis and rubber stamps.  So I needed a card for our great-granddaughter who turned 4 so I thought this cute image and the pink & orange color combo was perfect for her card.

I added some lime green but I think the colors came out nice ab=nd bright and cheery.  I colored the turtle using my Copics and Promakrers.  I had printed the image on Gina K Pure Luxury cardstock, which is very nice and smooth.

I outlined the flowers with glitter pen and added Glossy Accents to the flowers.  The bow I tyed and it came out OK.

  I added the two flip flop shoes, although they may not fit into the theme of the card, they were the perfect colors.

I finished the inside using a stamp and added four candles for the fourth birthday.

Challenges for this card
Scrappy Frogs - Birthday ends 6/11
KB Challenges  - Anything Goes ends 6/5
Party Time Tuesdays  - Anything Goes ends 6/6
Card Cupids - Ribbon/Fiber ends 6/5
DYSU Challenge - Orange ends 6/8
Catch the Bug - Bright Colors end 6/4
Also Ooh La La Creations is doing a design team call so i will place this card there to be considered for the DT.  They want a card posted that shows your style, that is very hard for me as I feel like I don't have a particular style as you can see by looking at my blog.  

Hope you like my card and be sure and stop by Crafty Creations and join in our fun.

Poppies by Tiffany Doodles.

I am so excited this week to be the hostess at Crafty Creations Challenge and super excited that Tiffany at Tiffany Doodles agreed to be my sponsor.  She has some of the most awesome images, you really do need to go check them out.






I especially love her flowers so my challenge is, use a flower image, pattern paper and a ribbon somewhere on your project.  It does not have to be one of Tiffany's images but I am sure she would really appreciate if you did.  Hop on over to Crafty Creations and post your project as you could win your choice of 5 of Tiffanys images.  How cool is that.  Plus she is always coming out with new releases.  Also you will want to check out what our design team at Crafy Creations has come up with using her images.
I used her poppy image, as poppies are my favorite flowers and I am really trying to improve my alcohol marker coloring, be it Promarkers or Copics.

I printed and colored a second image so I could pop dot a couple of the poppies to give it dimension.  The label was cut using my Cricut and stamped with one of Gina K Designs stamps.  I thought the saying fit the image perfectly.  I also liked the way the polka dot ribbon looked with the stripes.  Here is a close up of the poppies, I love the way the colors came out.

 

I will also be entering this card in Tiffany Doodles Flower Power Challenge, you have till May 21th to post your card.

Another thing I wanted to point out is Tiffany has some of her images that fit perfectly if you want to cut them with your Spellbinder Nesties, which is what I did with this one.
Other challenges that I will enter this in
A Spoon Full of Sugar - anything goes
Clear it Out Challenge - use coloring mediums
Delightful Sketches  - Flowers
Paper and Such - Birthday   This is a brand new challenge blog make sure you check it out.
Well thanks for stopping by and be sure and head on over to Crafty Creations and post your project.  I would love to hear what you think of my poppies.

Mother's Day Card

This is the card I made for my Mother, but I know she checks my blog once in a while so I thought I would wait to post it.   Also this week at Crafty Creations it is "anything goes", so why not come over and join us, it can't be any easier then that.

The colors on this card are so so pretty in person and just could not get a good picture of it.  The Happy Mother's Day is computer generated and printed on pearl white paper and cut with my Spellbinders.  I struggled a long time with card as I wanted to make sure and so something that left a lot of the background paper
showing.   Here is the inside, also computer generated.

I made the background paper using shaving cream..............I learned this technique by watching a video on Gina K Stamp TV there are lots of fun different techniques there so be sure and check it out.   Click HERE to watch the shaving cream video. 
The only problem is that you can not duplicate it again.  I have a few pictures to share, it is a messy process but so worth it.

Here is my paper plate of colored shaving cream.

I used my Cricut mat scrapper to scrape the excess off the paper.  Here are all the pices of paper I made using this batch of shaving cream.  The light colored one is the first piece I made then I added more colors.

I tried adding a few other things, like the small piece at the top right hand side of the picture I rubbed some Stickles over it, but I am not sure i like it.  I had only 3 colors of ink when I made this so I was very limited, but since I have picked up some more. 
Thank you so much for stopping by I hope you enjoyed this post and will give the shaving cream technique a try.

Happy Anniversary

My BFF and her husband will be celebrating their anniversary this weekend and the challenge/theme at Crafty Creations this week in anniversary so it worked out perfectly.  This weeks sponsor is Just Some Lines where there are some great digital images.  Now I kind of messed up and didn't use one of the images, when I read the challenge, I took just some lines as meaning to have some lines in your project.  Well dummy me it did not dawn on me till my card was completed what it meant, oops.

 So see the lines in there?  I felt bad but I am a very slow card maker and just did not have time to re-do it.  The "happy anniversary" is from Martha Stewart Elegant Cake cartridge, that I had my Cricut write or print using my Cri-Kits pens.  This works great for fine and skinny cuts that sometimes don't cut too well.  Once it was printed I colored it in using my ProMarkers.  The corners and the small hearts are Dazzle stickers.  I added the buttons to the buttons that I clipped the post off the back so they would lay flat.
Here is the inside that is computer generated.

Well thanks for stopping by and make sure you hop on over to Carfty Creations and join in the fun.

Two Hearts.............

............that beat as one.   This week at Crafty Creations our challenge is "white space", I love cards that have a lot of white on them so this one was great for me.  Although I would have liked to all white, I did have to make a wedding card and wanted to incorporate the wedding colors which are teal and brown.  Also our wonderful sponsor this week is Whiff of Joy, and I wanted to use something from them.  As they are in Europe and I did not have enough time to order, I picked up the phrase on the front of the card from them.  I sure hope that was OK, wanted to include them somehow.

The bottom heart cut with the swirls on it is from Straight From the Nest cartridge, and the top heart with the swirls cut out is from Stamping.  I Cuttlebugged the top heart with Swiss Dots and also the teal panel across the bottom.  The top of the card is very pearly white linen paper.  I embossed the criss-cross pattern using my Martha Stewart score board at 1/2 inch increments.  I then glued a small pearl at each cross point, I think it gave a very elegant effect.   The sentiment I printed on the same pearl linen paper which does not dry instantly so I sprinkled embossing powder on it as soon as it came out of the printer, then heat embossed it.  Here is a closer look.

The lighter colored hearts I found when I Goggled hearts and inserted it there because I thought it fit the saying.  I added a couple teal glittered brads to the sentiment panel.  The card is a 5 1/2 inch square card, which I am enjoying making this size more and more.
I am thrilled you visited my blog, leave me a comment so I know you were here and I would love it if you became a follower.  THANKS!

A Little Cotton Candy...................

............to wish you the best day ever!  This week at Crafty Creations  our hostess is Amy  and our sponsor is Whimsie Doodles where this adorable image is among the new releases.   Go check out this website as I am sure you will find something you like there.
Ok so the challenge that Amy gave us this week was to use one of the Whimsie Doodles images and 1. use some technique (stamping, sewing distressing etc) 2. embellishments (we all know that part is easy LOL) 3.  Designer or pattern papers. easy peasey right? So hop on over and join us, you might win some images.
So here is my card for this week, it measures 5 x 7 and the base is a cream color.

Isn't she just the cutest thing.  I am so please with how this came out.  The spotted paper is DCWV form the "All Dressed Up" stack.    I printed the images on Heavenly White paper that I got from Paper Temptress, it is very heavy and has an ultra smooth finish, my Copics and ProMarkers go down very smooth on it and it does not bleed through the back.  For this image I used both my Copics and my ProMarkers, I am just building my Copics and I have the full set of ProMarkers so I used the ones where I had the correct color.   In case you are wondering about the two types of markers, I love them both the biggest difference I guess I see in them in the colors, I think the Promakers are a bit brighter but you can tone them down with lighter colors.  Now I did have some trouble once with them smearing the ink from my printer on one kind of paper (can't remember which one) and when I tried my Copics on the same printed image it did not smear.  I do love the paint brush tip on the Copics, so I will continue to build my Copics and use them together.
WELL...............boy was that a side track, sorry.  Back to the card. LOL  My embellishment is the brads I used on her dress and on the sentiment area.  Technique, I distressed the edges of the border paper (darker pink) with my Tim Holtz Distress Tool I love this thing.
When I first saw this image I thought gee she is holding an awfully plain ice cream cone, what am I going to do with it.  Well my sister-in-law was here last week and I had the image on my desk and she said "How are you going to do the cotton candy?"  DUH..................it is cotton candy, then I had this brain storm, I took a cotton pad (like the kind you use to take off your make-up) and I sprayed it with Snow Angel Glimmer Mist and it added just the right color of pink and added a few sparkly spots that look like sugar, unfortunately I can not find that color anymore and I love it.  Then I cut out the cotton candy shape from another image and glued the cotton to it and wrapped it around the edges and stuck the whole thing on top of the image.  Here is a closer picture of it.

I covered the bows in her hair with Glossy Accents and also added a small pearl to her shoe as a button, you really can't see it in the picture.
Well thanks so much for stopping by and hop on over to Carfty Creations and play along with us.

Our little baby girl................

well our youngest Granddaughter turned 16 on Sunday so I made her this card.   This week at Craft Creations Challenge our challenge was to make a card using paper piecing.  Our hostess this week is Jenni and she is sponsoring this week and provided us with these adorable images.  It worked out perfect as I had to make this card this week anyways.  This card will also be entered into the challenge at FantabulousCricut where we had to make something for Spring using the colors, green, pink and yellow, go check it out as there is also a Crawl this week and you can win prizes.

Our granddaughter is not a big fan of pink, which is your first thought when coloring a dress for a little girl, but she does love green so that is why this color was picked.  I printed this image and colored it three times.  I colored it using my Copic markers, I think I am getting a bit better, just have to keep practicing.   The first image in printed directly on the white oval that I cut using my Nesties, the second image is completely cut out and layered on top of the base image, the third image I cut out only the dress (top & bottom) and layered it on top, hence the paper piecing.  Paper piecing is the technique of cutting out part of an image and layering or stacking it on top of the original image.  This is very fun and easy to do and adds a lot of dimension to your project.    I placed a rhinestone flower in her hair that was clear in color and I experimented and colored it with my Copic marker and it worked great, same with the one on top which is a bit easier to see.
Here is a side view showing the layers and the dimension.

You can see the flower in her hair better also.  I also added a row on rhinestones for her belt.  I did the polka dots on the top of her dress with a darker color green Copic.
Just an FYI (most of you may know) but the Carpe Diem Store has the sketch markers  on sale for $3.95, they will show as $4.87 but when you put them in your cart they are the sale price.  I got several and they are great to deal with.  Oops sorry for the side track :) back to the card.  The background paper is from K&Company - The Best of Brenda Walton stack, I just love this stack of paper is has so many wonderful papers in it and a large variety.
Now for the front saying to make sense here is the inside of the card...........sayings are all computer generated.

I cut this from the Cricut cartridge Forever Young.  I colored in her hair and added some sparkly accents to the outfit.  I think it is a fun card and am excited about how it turned out.  Let me know what you think.
Thanks for stopping by I love visitors and followers :).

Challenge - Make it Monday   Always Anything goes  -  ends 9/11

Sending Prayers & Thoughts

I thought this card looks comforting and caring all at the same time.  I figured it could be used for a sympathy card, an after surgery, or even when someone gets some bad news. 
Now this week at Crafty Creations Challenge the theme is "in stitches' although this card is by no means funny I did however use my Jamone sewing machine.

 

The flower is a Inkadinkado stamp, that I stamped on Cryogen white paper I got from Paper Temptress and colored using my ProMarkers.  The Cryogen white paper works great with alcohol markers and has a sparkle to it that shows through even after you color it.  The sentiment is a Gina K Design stamp, that I stamped on an oval I cut using my Cricut.  I also added some faux or hand stitching around the oval.

After I stamped and colored my flowers I cut them out using my deckled edged Nesties, one from the Cryogen white and the other from a very deep purple/maroon and then stitched them together.

Thanks for stopping by my blog, and don't forget to stop by Crafty Creations and join us this week.

Thank you "sew" much

This is my second week being on the Design Team at Crafty Creations Challenges.  Our host/sponsor this week is Jamie and her theme is "You have me in stitches", either using stitching on the card or a funny saying.  Make sure head on over to CCC and join us and find out what our sponsor has to offer.

This card was fun for me to make and rather quick for me also, less than a day, but you will see why later.

Now for most people when they say fast card it would be an hour or so, well one day is fast for me even with all the help I got on this one using Dazzle Stickers , I still had to pick out my papers and toy around with the design and which stickers I would use.  Plus I think I get distracted a lot (my own fault)LOL.
If you are not familiar with the Dazzle stickers check them out they come in all different kinds of things.  As delicate as they look they are very sturdy, in fact I had put the sewing machine on there twice and had to remove and reposition since it was crooked, but once you get the correct placement I just run them over with my brayer and they are stuck down!  Isn't the ruler part the coolest, it is a Dazzle also.
The background is DCWV paper from the Crafty Stack that has button and spools of thread on it.  The yellow frames piece on the upper left side I embossed using the Houndstooth folder in my Cuttlebug, then I  inked it slightly, you can't really see it.  The cream colored piece behind the sewing machine I stamped a pair of scissors all over it using my VersaMark stamp pad, again hardly visible.  Then I cut a circle and a scalloped shadow using my Cricut and stamped the saying on it, added a heart button and that finished it off.

I also made this card following the sketch this week at Mojo Monday #183, this is a fund challenge that I like to participate in whenever I can. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and as always if there are any questions I would be happy to answer them.  Or you can leave me a comment, I love them!

Cart of Love..........Mothers Day Card

I am so honored that I was asked to be on the design team at Crafty Creations Challenges.  This is my first week on the design team and this week our hostess is Bernie at Crafty Be  blog, our sponsor is The Stamping Boutique where you will find some fabulous images.  I chose the "Flower Cart" image to make a Mother's Day card as this is the theme this week.

I printed the image on Gina K Pure Luxury cardstock and colored it using a combination of Copic markers and ProMarkers.  My Copic marker collection is very small, but I have all the ProMarkers colors so I used both.    I hope to expand my Copics as time goes on and as the budget allows (or when I stop buying other things LOL).  I was very unhappy with the way the umbrella came out, but once I placed it on the bright green mat paper, that I pinched the corners with a Fiskars punch I was quite pleased.   The salmon colored background paper is from DCWV Flower Shower stack.  The Happy Mothers Day I cut from the Cricut cartridge Holiday Cakes, I love the cake cartridges for sentiments.  I actually mounted the sentiment with removable adhesive as I am not sure I will leave it as a Mothers Day card.  My Mom was here and saw it so I guess I will need to make another one.  I think it would make a great get well card as it is so bright and cheery.

Well thanks so much for stopping by and I would love to hear what you think of my card.  Be sure you check out the Crafty Creations Challenges, there is a new challenge every Wednesday, I look forward to being on this Design Team!

Wedding Cake - New Beginnings CCC Challenge 101

Again I am extremely thrilled to be a Guest Designer on the Crafty Creations Challenge blog this month.

This week the challenge was to make something for a "new beginning"; birth, wedding, engagement, etc.........  That was the only limitation for the challenge so it was pretty wide open and it will be very interesting to see the different project created by all the amazing talent out there.  Go ahead give it a try and post your creation using the link on the CCC blog.
I have a couple of weddings coming up this year so it was easy for me to chose which new beginning I wanted to use.  I made this wedding cake using a digital image from My Grafico, if you are like me you are always looking for new digital images, check them out.

 There was not a lot to color on this image but the white was just too plain, so I shaded it around the edges and lines with very very light chalk using light blue and gray.  You can not really see it in the photo but it does give it depth in person.  The wedding colors are dark blue & silver, so I used papers in those colors that have a very shimmery/pearlized look to them.  I get the paper from Paper and More, they have such pretty papers and their customer service is outstanding, order some samples and see for yourself, plus shipping on the samples in only $1, can't beat that.
I colored the flowers and leaves using my ProMarkers that you can purchase at Carpediem Store for only $1.49 each.  I used Blue Pearl and Cobalt Blue on the flowers, for the leaves I used Meadow Green and Apple.  After I colored the flowers I put Ranger Crackle Accents on them, which gave them an unusual look, here is a close up to see the effect it gave them.

I printed and colored the image twice and the bottom off of the top one and pop dotted it on top of the other one, I like the way it gave the cake more dimension.  The cake was mounted on Spellbinder Labels Ten.  The "wedding wishes" was stamped and heat embossed with a dark blue embossing powder.

I also finished the inside using one of those same Spellbinder labels, the sentiment was computer generated and the paper that I printed it on does not dry very fast so with embossing powder in hand I pour it on as soon as it came out of the printer and I was able to emboss the inside.  I edged it using one of Martha Stewart edge punches.

Thank you so much for stopping by, I would love to here your comments.   Again stop by Crafty Creations Challenge and check out all the other talent.