GIVEAWAYS! DS4J Celebrates 1000 Likes!

Hi there!  There's a very exciting week ahead of us....

TAKE 3 MINUTES TO READ THIS - YOU'LL BE HAPPY YOU DID!

It's time to CELEBRATE the 1,000 LIKES milestone on the Digistamps4Joy Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/DS4Joy).

To thank you, Margy is giving away OODLES of prizes from Monday 20th April to Friday 24th April. Come back each morning to see our fun challenges/games and the prizes you can put yourself in line to win.

Here's a taste of what's to come:

Free digistamps
Gift Certificates to the DS4J store
Guest Designer spots in our challenges
The latest batch of new releases
Sponsored digistamps from The East Wind and from Nana Vic's Digistamps,
....and MORE digistamps.

So, don't pass "GO" and don't go HOME until you have joined Margy and her Digistamps4Joy Team in this fabulous celebration week.

See you there!

Margy and the DS4J DT

This is going to be a really fun week so make sure to check Facebook EVERY MORNING and join us in the fun :)

Here's my card for the celebration....I hope you like it! 

I had a vision of what I wanted using acetate and foil, but like many things, it wasn't flawlessly executed LOL I am not familiar with working with foil and for some reason didn't take in every place, so it looked kind of grungy and imperfect.  At first I wasn't sure that I liked it, but it grew on me quickly. I liked how rough it ended up looking :)  I colored the streamers with Copics and used the same colors on my balloons, then fussy cut everything (I admit that I am not the best fussy cutter LOL) I added a few spots of Perfect Pearls to add more dimension and that was that!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Don't forget to head over to DS4J's Facebook page to join in on all the fun and make sure to stop back here on Tuesday, April 21 and leave a comment!  I'm going to be choosing a random winner from my comments for a Guest Designer spot :)

PTT April Challenge--Happy Birthday Monster!

Hey, hey, hey! Today starts a new "Anything Goes" challenge at Party Time Tuesdays, so get out your stamps, adhesive, and markers and join us in the fun!  

I made this birthday card for my son who had a monster themed party and to be quite honest, it's not a new creation of mine, but it is new to you. I have been wanting to share it because I think it's absolutely adorable and was a big hit with my kiddo.

How can you look at this and not smile?! 

The monster and balloons were cutting files that I purchased from the Silhouette store.   Before assembling him, I wanted to add some depth to his body, so I inked the edges in Peeled Paint Distress Ink.  I wasn't sure if I liked it at first, but it grew on me quickly.  I liked that it made him look a little dirty and disheveled.  I feel like monsters should have a level of untidiness to their appearance, so it worked well LOL I used my Swiss Dots embossing folder on his chest and on the white background, then added some purple Distress Ink.  I pieced the monster together, added googly eyes, then attached him to the card with an Action Wobbler.  The balloons are adhered using pop dots and I used black floss for the strings. 

That about does it for today! Thanks for stopping by :)  Don't forget to head over to Party Time Tuesdays to join us in this month's challenge!

Submissions:

Addicted to CAS--#60 Cute
Blessings Ink--Birthdays
Cards in Envy--Child's Play Challenge
Craft Hoarder's Anonymous--Go Green
The Cutie Pie Challenge Blog--#86 All About the Boys
Incy Wincy Designs--Clean & Simple
My Creative Moments--#5 Colorful Creations
Creative Corner--Animal Fun
Dragon's Lair--Add an Animal

DS4J New Release

Hello there and Happy Easter!  

I'm taking this week off to take care of some things at home, but wanted to pop in to remind you that it's New Release Sunday at DigiStamps4Joy. Here are a few of the fantastic images featured this week, with more listed on the blog.

                                            

(From left to right: Flower Girl, Fantasy Tulips, Hydrangea Bouquet)

All of the digital images at the store are hand drawn and the prices are very reasonable!  Head on over and like us on Facebook and visit the store to see a huge variety of digital images for every occasion.  You can print them as big or small as you want and you don't get inky fingers in the process ;)

DS4J Sketch Challenge #111

Hey there :)  

There's a fun sketch challenge going on at DigiStamps4Joy this month!  Check out the design that my teammate Tonnie came up with:

The great thing about sketches is that you can copy the design exactly as you see it, or make a few changes as you see fit. The most important thing to remember is that your creation should still resemble the original sketch. You should be able to look at them and see their similarities.  Here's my take on it, and if you look at the two, you'll notice some differences but the "guts" of the card is still there. I have more space in between my squares, have one more layer, and use ovals instead of circles.

When I participate in these types of challenges, I like to examine the sketch and take mental notes, then step away into my craft room and incorporate whatever design elements I remember. I find that if I do it this way, it allows room for my own interpretation without getting away from the original design. If I forget something or get stumped, I can always go back and see what I missed, and I typically do one last check when the card is complete just to make sure I didn't miss anything.

My card base is 5  1/2" x 5  1/2"

The black layer is 5  1/4" x 5  1/4"

The kraft layer is 5" x 5"

The squares measure 1  1/2" x 1  1/2"

I didn't do any calculations to make sure they were perfect, but they seemed to work out just fine :)

I used patterned paper from my stash and colored the adorable new image called Bunny's Egg with Copic markers.  He was too big to use a circle die, so I decided on an oval die nested on top of a scallop oval die.

That about does it for this entry. Head on over to DS4J's blog to check out what my teammates came up with and to submit something of your own :)  Thanks for stopping by today!

Submissions:

The Crafter's Cafe #110--"Easter"

Little Red Wagon #283--"Call the Vet"

The Paper Shelter #197--"Easter Time"

Ruby's Rainbow Challenges #101--"Bunnies"

Deep Ocean Challenges #100--"Easter/Spring"

Digi Choosday--"Ovals/Easter"

Naughty or Nice In Bloom--Watercolor with embossing

Hi everyone :)

This month's Naughty or Nice Challenge is taking off and the theme is "In Bloom".  Before getting into the headache this card caused me, I must say that the final product is gorgeous and I love it. I don't think the picture captured how beautiful it really is...

Now...about the headache. 

This card was initially like one of those Pinterest Fails.  I had an idea in my head of what I wanted to do:  watercolor with embossed flowers. The big questions were whether or not I should emboss them in white or black, and what flowers to use.  I did the watercolor and was so happy with how it turned out.  It was beautiful and I wish I would have taken a picture of it before I added anything else, but I didn't expect what would happen next to happen LOL

Stamping these flowers was a nightmare.  The first went on great, the second pretty darn good, but the third just didn't work out well.  I tried masking two of the flowers before laying the third, but some of the image didn't stamp,  so I just wiped the embossing powder away (several times), used my powder tool, re-stamped and sprinkled the embossing powder on (several times). The leaves seemed to line up funny and I had to repeat the process a few times with them. Folks, there's only so much wiping off of embossing powder and re-sprinkling of embossing powder that can be done LOL It was NOT cooperating at all and my beautiful vision was quickly unraveling.

So, I decided that it was what it was and considering covering the flawed parts with a ribbon or a banner, but decided to use one of my favorite tricks when it comes to minor mishaps that nothing else will disguise--VELLUM! I love vellum. It's delicate and beautiful and feminine, and as a bonus, it covers up minor mistakes.  I'm sure these mistakes were much more obvious to me since I made the card, but I still wanted to cover it up. So I did. And I really love it :)

I used acetate to create the watercolor effect and made sure to dry the paper with my heat tool before changing colors, just to make sure they didn't muddy.  After it was all dry, I did the stamping and embossing, then covered it with vellum.  I added the double loop bow at the end using my Bow-It-All v. 2.0 tool. I absolutely love this tool! The bows it creates are just so perfect.  

That's about it for me today! Thanks for stopping by. Head on over NON to join us in the challenge and to see what my fab teammates came up with.

Supplies:

Neenah Solar White Cardstock

Distress Inks (Picked Raspberry, Salty Ocean, Squeezed Lemonade)

Stampin' Up Summer Solstice

Bow It All v. 2.0

Ribbon from stash

Strathmore Watercolor Paper

I'd like to submit my card into the following challenges and themes:

My Creative Moments #5--"Colorful Creations"

Card Mani Challenges #67--"Flowers"

Add a Little Dazzle #69

ColourQ Challenge #285

Clear It Out--"2 or More Thing You're Hoarding"

Artistic Inspirations #128--"Anything Goes with a Twist of Flowers"

DS4J Daisies New Release

Hi there!  

Today is New Release Sunday at DigiStamps4Joy and  I used the new digi called Daisies to create this week's card.  I thought this image was so pretty and reminded me of spring, so I was very eager to use it!

I love the CAS look of this one!  I initially planned on using different patterned paper, but my son was being ever-so-helpful and was giving me loads of wonderful suggestions on what to use. When he picked this one out, it looked better than what I had so I went with it :)

I colored the daisies with Copic markers and embossed the entire front of the card base before adhering the paper together.  For the flags, I colored little white pieces of paper with the same Copics I used to color the image, and I did some stamping on top of them.  I stamped a script font on the blue tag, stripes on the green and polka dots on the yellow.  The white dots didn't show up very well, so I took a Colorless Blender and made random dots of varying sizes and that worked just fine.

I used the sketch challenge posted by CAS(E) this Sketch (below) for this card's design and will be submitting it to their challenge.  

Thanks for stopping by today! Hop on over to the DS4J blog to see the other new releases and what the rest of Team A came up with. Also, don't forget that the Embossing/Red challenge is still going on until the end of the month and we'd love to have you stop by! You can check out my entry for that challenge here.

Don't forget to "like" DigiStamps4Joy on Facebook! We are close to reaching 1,000 fans and will be giving away an image when we reach it!

I'm submitting my card into the following challenges:
Card Mania Challenges--Spring
My Creative Moments--Think Spring
Stamp and Create--Is it Spring Yet?
Cas(E) this Sketch

Wags 'n Whiskers--Ready for Spring

Party Time Tuesdays Watercolor Flowers

Happy Tuesday! It's the first Tuesday of March so that means that our new challenge starts at Party Time Tuesdays. We had a lot of fabulous entries last month and I'm looking forward to seeing what this month brings. As always, the theme is "Anything Goes", so whip up something great and join us in the fun!

I thought this would be the perfect time to share this card I made using the Flower Stamps by Oriental Trading. It appears like these stamps are discontinued, but they do have a number of other stamps on the site and the prices are great!

I used Strathmore Watercolor Paper and stamped the flowers in Distress Ink, then spitzed them with the tiniest amount of water just to get a bit of a watercolor effect.  I thought it was such a pretty CAS card and I love the look of the flowers :) I finished it off with a sentiment and pretty purple floss.  

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Please take a minute and leave a comment letting me know what you think :)

I'm submitting my card to the following challenges:

Really Reasonable Ribbon--Flowers and Ribbon
Always Something Creative--Spring Awakenings
The Artistic Stamper--Spring is Coming
Card Mania Challenges--Spring
Crafts Galore Encore--Anything Goes
My Artistic Adventure--Bits of Green
Natalie and Amy's Challenge--Flowers
Scribbles Designs Challenge Blog--Clean and Simple
V's Sweet Ideas--Watercolor
2 Cute Ink Challenge--Spring
My Creative Moments--Think Spring