30 day Coloring Challenge Day 28 - Backgrounds

     I decided to play around more with backgrounds.  I decided that if I used my Copic Multiliner to actually draw the upper part of the grassy area it would make it look kind of cartoon like and the figures are already a little cartoon like.  This seemed to make it more connected.  I also experimented with making clouds and sky.

Art Impressions, Hampton Art, "Gardeners Set"

     Having a background really makes the card special.  I thought the cards were cute with no background but now I see that there is no comparison.

30 Day Coloring Challenge Day 27 - Backgrounds

 

Art Impressions Hampton Art "Gardeners Set"

30 day Coloring Challenge Day 27 - Art Impressions Gardeners Set

     I tried this stamp set for the first time for this card front and it is so cute.  I am inspired to make other types of cards from the set.

Art Impressions by Hampton Art "Gardeners Set"

30 Day Coloring Challenge Day 26 - Bugaboo Poppi Cocoa

     Today I colored an image from Stampalicious called Bugaboo Poppi Cocoa.  The Penguin is so cute.  I used Copic markers then some glossy accents for his nose and the berries on the Holly and I used clear Wink of Stella on the straw, marshmallows, cap, holly leaves, mug and the white parts of the Penguin.  I shimmered almost everything!  I have purchased digital images from Bugaboo stamps before but this was a clear stamp.  (I REALLY need to make a light box of some sort.  Even with natural sunlight I get shadows.)

Stampalicious Bugaboo Poppi Cocoa

     I also made a card for my daughter to give to her doctor.  She is almost 18 and will need to stop seeing her pediatric doctors.  We are giving her doctor a starbucks gift card along with this card that has an image of a teacup.

     I got the dimensional teacup sticker from a dollar store a year or two ago so I don't remember who makes it.  I also used some washi tape and heat embossed the sentiment.

     The front of the card is shorter than the back of the card and it is an odd size.  I may need to make an envelope for it because my daughter won't want to give it without one.

     I somehow managed to get some pink ink on the back of the card.  Oh my.  Stuff like that happens all the time.  Fortunately I found some designer paper that coordinates with the pink stamped swirls on the front and I was able to completely cover the back and make it look intentional.  That was a first for me.  Paper on the BACK of a card.   And again - overexposed photo in spots and shadows on other parts of the card.........

Autumn Leaves Elegant Flourishes, Hampton Arts KI Memories Greetings

30 day Coloring Challenge day 25 - Thank you Star Ribbon Card

     I am calling this a Star Ribbon Card because it reminds me of those "First Place, Second Place" etc. ribbons that are awarded.

Papertrey Ink Background Basics - Gingham

30 Day Coloring Challenge Day 24-Mermaid with Fish

     I colored the Paper Nest Doll "Mermaid with Fish" today and fussy cut her out.  I  need to start making cards out of the Paper Dolls very soon.

Paper Nest Dolls "Mermaid with Fish"

     I tried to color her like Ariel but I don't have proper Copic colors for red hair.

30 Day Coloring Challenge Day 22 Pirate Treasure Map Card

     Hello there.  I am excited to finally try to make the pirate treasure map card posted by Sandy Allnock.

     

     I downloaded the path outline.  I tried three times to trace it and failed miserably so I just printed it out and cut it.  It wasted the other 3/4 sheet of cardstock but thankfully it was just Georgia Pacific card stock from Walmart.  I had these dimensional pirate stickers left over from another project (purchased several years ago at the Dollar Tree) and I knew they would be perfect for the treasure map.  I then adhered the card front to a #110 Neenah Solar White card base.  

     My nephew turns 5 next month so I thought this would be perfect for him.  I almost wish I had more pirate stickers for my other nephew who will be 4 this summer (different relative's child), but he loves cars so I think I will turn his into a road or race track instead.

     I had to create the background map but I did it just like Sandy so it was easy.  The map was my coloring for the day.  I may have to get the same stamp set she used though because I like this idea so much.

30 Day Coloring Challenge Day 21

     I got home from visiting relatives tonight and decided to color a little something and actually make a card out of it.

Retired Image ?  from thecraftyjournal.blogspot.com

30 Day Coloring Challenge at The Daily Marker Day 19

     Today I pulled out the download I received  from Sandy Allnock with inspirational quotes.  I followed along with some of her suggestions for new techniques to try.

Distress inks for top two cards and Copics for bottom three cards.

30 day Coloring Challenge Day 18 and Couponing the New Way

     I lost my Mojo.  Ever since the emergency when I accidentally gave my cat the seizure medicine my dog takes instead of her own seizure medicine (she's fine by the way), I haven't been in the mood to color projects.  I started working on a mindless coloring page which was still nice.  It still takes me "away" but I have very little to show for it.  I put on a tv show late  (very late) at night for a few days and didn't even plan what colors would go where.  I am almost embarrased to show it here because it is just mindless coloring.
     I also have been focusing on finding the best deals on groceries.  I have every rebate app and price matching app available and am learning to use them.  I use to be an extreme coupon lady and was extremely good at it.  My best score was $100 of groceries for exactly $00.00, plus I got some shoppers rewards where coupons spit out of their machines.  That added up to another $25.00 I could spend.  I immediately put my groceries in my car, looked through my coupons, went back inside and spent it all.  My total for the additional groceries I got was awesome.  They PAID me $1.25 to haul that food out of the store.  Mostly I was paying 30% of asking price when I grocery shopped, but that visit was memorable.
     Grocery stores no longer double coupons in our area.  That darned Extreme Couponing TV show told everyone how to do it and the stores got frustrated.  I don't think they were frustrated about cost because they do get reimbursed, but people were abusing the system, copying coupons that weren't valid and the store wasn't getting paid.  It hurt all of us.
     I still get a few free items.  These week I got a free banana, tomato, grandma's brand cookies, etc.  I recently got free bath soap, lotion, etc.  Disposable razors were $0.25.  I can go to Walmart and price match everything that is on sale at local stores so I only need to shop one place for listed items and that is helpful.  I still get coupons so sometimes there are items I buy religiously that rarely go on sale and the higher value coupons are helpful.  I find some name brand items at the Dollar Tree that have coupons too.  They are sometimes free and sometimes just reduced by $0.25 but every bit helps.  Over all it is helpful but no where NEAR as helpful as double coupons use to be.
     So here is my mindless coloring for the past few days and it isn't even finished.  I think I am starting to get my Mojo back though so hopefully I can get back to creating useful things.

30 Day Coloring Challenge day 14

     Happy Valentine's Day.  My day started out nice.  My husband cooked dinner and did dishes!  Dinner was great.  Then we started talking about stuff while I helped clean up.

House Mouse, Warm Cup

 

     I got distracted while I was giving medications to our dog and cat-both pets have seizures-and accidentally gave the dog's medicine to the cat.  I absolutely can't talk and do stuff at the same time.  I should have known better.  Our dog is 20 pounds and our cat is 5 years old and 10 pounds.

     I had to pay $49 to call the Pet Poison Hotline but I was happy they were there to talk to me.  I was frantic.  It had only been a few minutes but I am a retired Veterinary Technician with a background in Critical Care at a very large teaching emergency and specialty veterinary hospital.  Pet poisons was my special area of interest so I know quite a lot about it to start with.  I know for a fact that you can not make your cat vomit at home.  You have to go to an emergency veterinary hospital that has a special medication to inject to make the cats vomit.  I also know that not all veterinary hospitals have the medication.  I was so worried that I would have to take my cat to the "emergency room".

     I was told that the medication can be given to cats (I knew that) but the dose she got was a little higher than would be given even for the most severe seizures.  Thankfully it is relatively safe.  It doesn't hurt their liver for instance.  The dose she got would make her groggy which makes sense, and she might drool which is acceptable to me short term.  The only thing dangerous was that it could make her heart beat very slowly.

     It was recommended that she be monitored overnight at an emergency veterinary clinic so they could monitor her heart rate.  Since that is my old job, I knew that a technician would just take her heart rate every hour during the night and I would be charged an exam fee and a hospitalization fee for something I could do at home.  Now don't get me wrong.  I would have rushed her in if it was more dangerous but I can stay up during the night and take her heart rate for free.  I still have my stethoscope and the expertise to monitor her.  I can look at the heart rates and see if they are going down slowly over time and I know enough not to let it get really low before rushing her in.  If I see ANY trend that shows the heart rate is beginning to slow down I am rushing her right in.

     She got the medicine at 8 pm and it is almost midnight.  Half of the medicine will be eliminated 3 hours after she got it so she probably only has a safe amount in her at this point.  She is doing great.  No drooling and her heart rate has been the same all this time.  She was a little groggy but seems better now.  I was told that her heart could still be potentially affected for up to 9 hours afterwards so I am going to continue to monitor her but I am less worried now.  By the time I have to take my daughter to school in the morning I can let the cat out of the bathroom which is where she is living during the night so I know where to find her.

Gabby

     Thankfully my daughter got her drivers permit and can do the driving to school.  I will be driving myself home from her school and going straight to bed!

30 Day Coloring Challenge day 13

     I thought I would take a break from the Paper Nest Dolls and do a floral image with colored pencils.

30 Day Coloring Challenge Day 12

     I believe there is only one more Paper Nest Doll image for me to color after this one.  I messed up the mouth on this one so I will be doing another one.  I used the wrong ink to to stamp her and the smile smeared so I tried to draw a wider smile on her but boy did I mess it up.

Paper Nest Doll, "Rose Princess"

30 day Coloring Challenge day 11

Paper Nest Dolls "Frog Princess"

30 day coloring challenge day 10

   

 Paper Nest Dolls "Genie Avery"

     Today I did more organizing.  I found the corner of my craft room-hehe.  Unfortunately, I had to remove a laundry basket full of miscellaneous stuff that doesn't have a real home and now said laundry basket is living in my living room waiting for me to finally decide if I really need that stuff, and if so, where it should live.  It certainly shouldn't live in my craft room or in a laundry basket in limbo where I can't see what is in the bottom.

30 day Coloring Challenge day 9

 

Paper Nest Dolls "Snow Princess"

30 Day Coloring Challenge Day 8

 

30 day Coloring Challenge day 4

     That's right.  I wasn't able to color yesterday, but I made sure to make time today.

Whimsy Stamps "Jenny has the Cure"

The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge day 2

    My daughter is at Driver's Education tonight, then has to drive with her instructor and another student directly after class.  That means I have about three hours to play (not including my drive time there and back).  Whee!
     Today I colored a Christmas image.  I need to practice more obviously, but it was a good start.  I haven't decided how to put her on a card but it will come to me eventually.

The Paper Nest "Christmas Bella"

 

     I also used my Kaleidacolor rainbow inkpad to make a card front.  I didn't think it was really coloring so I didn't use it for my coloring challenge item.  I always forget that I have this colorful inkpad.  I don't really have a purpose for this card either so I had a hard time deciding on a sentiment to use.  I finally decided to use "Sending Prayers" because I see a lot of requests for prayers and if it is a longer term ailment, I thought sending a card would be nice and uplifting.

The Daily Marker 30 day Coloring Challenge Day 1

Compass  Blueprint Sizzix stamp and die set by Tim Holtz

   

 For my first day of the Coloring Challenge I played with a new stamp and die set I have (deeply discounted at Tuesday Morning) and then I added some copic coloring.  The sentiment appears off center in the photo, but the card is angled and is distorting the image.  It is centered in real life.  My Nephew is in the Navy and my brother was in the Navy years ago.  I put a birthday sentiment inside and will be sending this to my brother next month for his birthday.