Sweet Love!!

Well hello friends and happy Wednesday to you all---middle of the week already, geez!  So much to get done this week and so far so good, lol!  Riley's 13th Birthday is on Saturday and we're planning a ski-getaway weekend for next week with 3 of his friends.  I don't ski anymore so I'll either be in the spa trying to relax or reading a good book while they're out---my muscles don't function so well in that kind of icy cold any more.  BUT I will go tubing with them as it doesn't require much coordination, lol.  Hubby is an expert skier so he'll be fine and the boys will have a lesson in the morning and then off to ski for the afternoon.  Should be fun, but 4 13 year old boys and a hubby who will act similarly might be my doing in (ha ha ha)---ADVIL will be with me at all times!  Thank goodness I'll be off to sunny San Diego after that, yayyyy!  I still have a hard time believing my "baby" will be a teenager for real.  He's officially taller than me and his dad and his voice dropped like 3 octaves overnight.  I called home when I was in TN and I thought he was sick again, LOL--I was like "hey what's wrong with your voice?"!  But to my dismay he's just getting BIG and not so much a momma's boy anymore (sigh) but he's a cutie and he's smart so for that I'm thrilled AND he has a good heart and is kind which thrills me even more.  I'm pretty proud of who he's becoming and am curious to see who he continues to become.  Now if I could find jeans that would grow with him that would be fabulous.....................LOL!

NewsBitz:

-Did you get a chance to participate in the FUN Party-licious Blog Hop for Gina K's birthday yesterday?  It was super fun and lots of great inspiration among the DT!  Make sure to see the post below if you missed it!

-San Diego is a GOOOOOOOOOOO for Copic Classes!  I am flying into San Diego on the 23rd and class will start at 2 pm that day (yikes).  I'm just teaching the Beg/Interm. Class so it will be from 2-6:30 that day.  I'm working on getting a meeting room at my hotel so stay tuned.  But if you want to sign up to hold a spot (as it will be a smaller class) go HERE and register.  More info will be sent to you by Saturday.

-I'm starting a NEW DT for my Color Me Creative Challenge Group--yay! The Challenge Group is a fun group that has 2 challenges every month featuring fun Copic Challenges and great sponsors/prizes!  This will be a FABULOUSLY FUN DT that rotates every 3 months and I'm looking for those of all crafting/copic levels.  You must have an active blog though---see HERE for all the details (if you are not a member of the CMC site then you must join to see the group--its free & open to everyone).  Deadline for entries is Feb.25th!

The DT will get to display this fun blinkie made by the AWESOME Veronica of VKDesign

(she did my blog, classroom and magazine and she is worth the wait my friends)

-Interested in learning how to use Distress Inks---Angie Hunt teaches a class on it over at the CMC Classroom!  BUT she's having a super blog candy HERE so you can win a free class with her!

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Lots of Love!!

Since it's a new month that means it's a new Magnolia-licious February Sketch Challenge!  This month our wonderful hostess is DT Patti Jo Skogquist and she has challenged us with a fun RECIPE (hearts, pinks, white, silver with touches of green if needed).  You can find all the challenge details at the Magnolia-licious Highlites Blog HERE.    I veered a bit and used cream instead of white for my card, sorry, lol!

I used this super sweet image from Magnolia-licious called "Ribbon Hair Tilda" from the You Are So Special Collection (see the whole collection HERE)!  She was so much fun to color and perfect to color as an African American cutie---I think the selection of stamps for this ethnicity is lacking in most stamp companies so I was thrilled to see this one come out.  Although you could color her up fabulously for Caucasian skin tones as well---gotta love the options.  My papers are new from Making Memories called "Je t 'Adore"--I love the soft pinks and creams.  Perfect for a shabby chic card!  

I distressed all my edges with my fab Zutter Distress-It tool and inked the edges as well.  The hearts were made with both Spellbinders and a MS punch--the large heart got embossed and then inked.  That fabulous crinkle ribbon I buy off of Etsy (its gorgeous) and topped it with a Making Memories heart embellie.  I made the hat pins myself with supplies I keep on hand.  The border across the middle is a Spellbinders die as well.

 

She's cute right? Love her!  You can find videos on how to color African American Skin Tones that I've done HERE if you are interested.  I think its always good to challenge yourself with your copics, so if you haven't tried different skin tones--now is the time to try it :)  I used some Silver Stickles on the rose center and the dots on the present.  Her shoes got a coat of Diamond Glaze for shine as well.  The top part of her dress and hair bows got stardust stickles for sparkle.


Copic Colors Used:  Pinks- R22,R20,R11/ Greens -YG67,G20/ Skin- E25,E13,E11/Hair-E49,E25,E31/ whites- C00,C1,C3  AND a lot of Colorless Blender to get the soft, pastel colors.

Hope you enjoyed this sweet project today!  Make sure to hop over to the Magnolia-licious Highlites Blog to see the rest of the DT's beautiful projects and to join in on the fun too!