Deck Your Halls.....

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Did you have a wonderful Thanksgiving/Holiday weekend?  We sure did...we had my family over on Thursday, did a little midnight Black Friday shopping, some house decorating and watched Hallmark and holiday movies :)  There was also a lot of eating and drinking a lot of hot cocoa LOL.

On Sunday we got our real tree from our fave Christmas tree farm and it was a beautiful day out. I will share more pics over at my other blog here tomorrow!  We got that tree up (only 11 ft this year instead of 13 which was too big for this gal)...although we are decorating it tonight. So that means I got 6 trees done & one more to go...just 7 this year I think. I can't put any in the basement since its under renovation right now...too much trouble to move it while we're working.  But the house is looking pretty, holiday lights give such a warm glow and the house smells yummy too.  I'm hoping to get all the outside decorations up on Wednesday and then I will be mostly done with the decorating.  I promise to share the pics this weekend when everything is all done & photos have been taken.

Here are a few photos from our Holiday Tree Hunting at Snickers Gap Farm in VA :)

You can hop over to my other blog to see my dining room makeover

which is almost 95% complete..still working on it & its now dressed for Christmas.

Me & the teens..it was a beautiful day to get a tree! 

Alexa

James doing his thing....TIMBER ;)

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Deck The Halls

Today the Magnolia-licious Team B has their projects up for inspiration for the current Tuesday Challenge "Doilies & Frilly Cut-Outs" (that runs till Jan 12th).  So happy to be coloring & crafting again and not be in so much pain..great feeling!  You can find all the details for this challenge & the Holiday Challenge at the Challenge Blog HERE...we'd love to have you join in & you have lots of time too! 

**Pre-Order the NEW "Little Moscow Collection" Here **

I used this new cutie "The Day Before Xmas Noel Tilda" from the Winter Wonderland Collection...love her lil' footie jammies!  I went with non-traditional colors along with a hefty does of white to ground it...I love bright, fun colors this time of year.  I used a lot of dies for my frilly-doily accents but I went with more of a snowflake doily effect...non-traditional right? LOL!

The trees are a die here as well and then I added some MS Glitter Snow & glitter to them to make them pop.  The background was embossed with a CB folder and then added some La La Land corners (made with their die) in green.  The sentiment and buttons are from Paper Trey Ink and so are the lil' star stamps I did around the image in hot pink & green.  Some ribbon, pom-pom trim and bakers twine finish it all off.

She was colored with Copics and then I added some Stickles to her sweet NOEL banner and in the corners for some fun sparkle.  I love the sentiment...perfect with this image :)

That's all for me today, hope you have a wonderful week!

I'll be decorating...and decorating some more ;)

Holiday Blog Hop!

Happy Monday folks!  Have you started decorating for Christmas yet?  I have, slowly but surely a little bit each day so that by Thanksgiving we can get our real 12+ ft tree for our family room.  But I LOVE this time of year so much...it just makes me happy..and keeps me busy LOL.  I won't chitter chatter much because I have lots of project photos, details and hop details to share with you!

But if you missed any of my posts on my other blog...hop on over to see some holiday crafts I've been working on over there.

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HOLIDAY BLOG HOP

My Winter Wonderland Holiday Box

Today both the 

Magnolia-licious & Scor-Pal DTs are having a super fabulous holiday hop

for you all!

We want to inspire you to get crafty with some holiday, wintry projects!!

And as always there are a FEW WAYS TO PLAY along as you hop along, so don't miss a thing!

For all the details and blog hop order in one place hop to the Challenge Blog when you are done!

PLAY ALONG 2 WAYS

The 1st way to play is to collect the letters and clues on each blog as you hop along...then when you have them all--have fun unscrambling a holiday expression and email to Suzanne (me) at sjdean0574@yahoo.com by Dec 30th.  Each blog has either letters or a clue in RED at the bottom of their post.

The 2nd way to play (and you can do both to get 2 entries) is to submit a Holiday/Winter Themed project at the Challenge Blog by Dec 31st.  See Challenge Blog for the prizes and other details.

(winners will be announced by Jan 4th)

Now let's have some fun ok?

If you have been hopping then you would have come to me from Patti Jo's Blog, if not make sure to hit all the blogs and continue on the hop at the bottom of my blog.

I made a Winter Wonderland Holiday Box for my hop project and it was so much fun to make!  For my project I decided to use one of those fab 3D Kit boxes by LaLa Land that Magnolia-licious sells. They are super easy to put together and sooo much fun to decorate.  I used the Best Glue Ever to glue mine and then put a book on top once it was all done (except the easel back piece) to make sure all the seams dried evenly.  Then I painted it white with acrylic paint and added my fave MS Glitter Snow to the decorative designs on the front.

My trees were cut out with my Silhouette Cameo in different heights (if you don't have a Cameo, use a die like this one) and then they got a 3-step process...inked with dark navy ink, then I used a Liquid Applique Pen in white to add puffy snow to the branches, then finished off with some Snow Glitter and Tinsel products applied with Tacky Glue.

TIP: Cut your background paper to size FIRST, BEFORE you put your box together to make it easier on yourself...trust me. My paper is by BoBunny.

I handcut some snowy hills out of white cardstock and added them in the background after coating them with some snow glitter & tinsel.

Here's a side view...the boxes come with an easel back piece so they stand up nicely.

I painted all sides and back of my box with the white paint.

The lamp post is a LaLa Land die that Magnolia-licious sells as well. Its such a fun accent to use.  I added vellum behind the glass areas of the lamp and colored them light yellow with a TouchTwin marker.  I also smudged white ink and added some Stickles & Snow Glitter onto the lamp post so it looked like it was coated in snow too.

At the bottom of the box I added a banner that I stamped with snowflakes and then hand-numbered with the year 2013.  The banner is from a PTI die that cuts the banner so it bends and pops up for dimension...and some Stickles along the edges for more sparkle.

I used an oldie but goodie stamp "Edwin & Tilda Skating" that is STILL my fave holiday stamp of all time from Magnolia-licious! They're just adorable!  It comes in both regular size & mini size, if its out of stock send a note that you are interested in it to Diana as she may be getting more in if they're all gone.  To make the stamped image and lamp post pop out more I just cut white cardstock the width I needed and glued it to the image in 3 places--lamp in 2 places, bent it twice and then glued to the backside of box.

I had fun coloring them with my TouchTwin Markers and then adding some extras.  The fur trim on their coats got white Doodlebug Flock, Stickles on her skates and pockets and a cute mini pom-pom added to Edwin's cap.  I love adding details like that!

On the top of my box I added some Memory Box "Frostyville" diecuts and centered it with a snowflake coated in MS Snow Glitter.

The frosty coated lamp post shining some light down on Edwin & Tilda. I love the chunky look of the MS Snow Glitter.

Hope you enjoyed my frosty project today & keep hopping along to see 

the DT's amazing projects and collect your LETTERS & CLUES!

MY LETTERS ARE:

H, i, f
And the Clue is:
A "twist" on a popular holiday expression

Now you need to hop onto

 Dena Concienne's Blog

to see what holiday fun she's created!

Happy Tree Fun!

Happy Tuesday friends!  And Happy Belated Veterans Day to those that are serving or have served...we thank you and appreciate your service to the US.  Its supposed to be cold and snowy today here in VA...eeek...I HATE WINTER and COLD...yup, I'm a SNOW HATER.  The cold weather has already put a damper on my level of energy and my joints are aching so I'm counting down until Spring is upon us again LOL.  Good for you that love it, but I just am not a fan. I simply wouldn't care if the only place I ever saw snow again was in my snowglobes ;) and that's the honest truth.

However I am getting excited about the upcoming holidays and have already started many projects, ordered my photo cards and am pulling out the decorations for my 10 trees this year...gotta start early ya' know!  You can see some other fun holiday projects I've done on my other blog HERE if you missed them.

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Holiday Tree Decorations!

Today I'm sharing some ornaments I made with the sweet Magnolia stamps from Magnolia-licious.  Today kicks off the newest Tuesday Challenge at the Magnolia-licious Challenge Blog and its winter themed!  Hope you can join in with us and hop on over when you get a chance to see the gorgeous DT projects! 

I used stamps from the newest "Winter Wonderland 2013" Collection of Magnolia Stamps at Magnolia-licious...both regular and mini sized!

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I picked up some sweet wood holiday ornaments in different shapes at AC Moore the other day (I got 12..shhh..I'm a hoarder)!  They were only 70 cents each...DEAL!  I knew I was going to make some fun ornaments with them and couldn't wait to use some with my Magnolia stamps.  I spray painted these two in white gloss paint...2 coats...before I got started decorating!

For this first ornament I used super sweet "The Day Before Christmas Edwin" and colored him up with Copics.  Then I added both Stickles (Star Dust) and MS Snow Glitter (my fave) to the snow on the tree he's peeking thru.  I also used the snow glitter on the frame surrounding the image.  The holly swirls and pineneedles are Memory Box dies that I inked with darker green SU ink.  Then I diecut the sentiment banner (PTI) and stamped it with a holiday sentiment.  A bow and hanger finish it off.  I usually let my ornaments dry 24 hours really good before I spray them with an acrylic acid-free sealer...that way they last over the years and help prevent damage.

I cut my image out with an oval die in my Cuttlebug and glued to the back of the frame, then I cut another oval out of holiday paper to place over it in the back once I was all finished.  That way the back looks nice too because we all know ornaments have a way of "spinning" on the tree :)

On this second one I used was "Show The Way Rudolph" (I used the MINI version, it comes in regular size too here)...isn't he a cutie-patootie!?  He was colored with Copics & TouchTwin markers as well.  I cut the image out leaving room for a sentiment at the top (sentiment by PTI).  I used MS Snow Glitter on the image and around the frame as well and stamped a few snowflakes around the image too.  Another Memory Box die cut border was used to cut 2 borders and add to each side of the frame.  I also punched a few snowflakes out of aqua cardstock, cut a few in half and added them around the frame.  Then one for the bow topped with a button and twine.

Hope you enjoyed this post and maybe want to make a few ornaments of your own!

Have a wonderful week!

Entering these into the following fab Linky Parties:

The DIY Dreamer
Commona-My House
Savvy Southern Style
Domestic Superhero

The Beauty of Sunsets!

Happy Tuesday y'all!  I'm back with a project...although I'm not at home this week...I'm up in New York at my Gram's house for the week with Riley.  She celebrated her 92nd birthday last month and we always try to visit at least 1-2 times a year.  Plus Riley gets some "country boy time" with my Uncle and I get to spend time with my Gram and cousins.  And its not any cooler up here LOL...still humid and hot..that's summer for ya!  Hubby is in Arizona this week and with Alexa in FL the Dean Family is EVERYWHERE LOL...oh nooooo!

Alexa is down in Orlando, FL at SeaWorld for her internship and happy as a clam...or dolphin LOL! She got a private show of "Shamu Rocks" last night, she has a friend from school as her roomie and has already made a bunch of new friends...so she's basically having a BLAST LOL! They slept in sleeping bags in the dolphin enclosure last night ahahaha...fun for her!  Tomorrow she will shadow the vets in the veterinary center for half a day and work with dolphins, sea turtles, seals and otters.  THEN SHE SWIMS IN THE SHARK TANK OMG....not sure momma is happy about that one but she's totally game.  She got an underwater camera for her birthday to use so hope she gets some great shots.  She wants to major in Marine Biology with a minor in Environmental Sciences so she's totally in her element that's for sure!

Then we get back next week and we have hair appts (read: Riley gets a buzz cut), baseball games, sports physicals, senior photos and eye appts...then football camp starts.  Tis the season for mom to run around and drive sweaty, stinky boys to and fro camp...starts at 9 am and runs till 3 with a 45 min lunch break...gonna be HOT for sure and will tucker those boys out no doubt. (I do not envy them) I need to buy stock in Gatorade I tell ya...I make sure that all the boys I drive home have cold ones when they get in the car and each football mom takes over Gatorade duty for a few practices as well.  Along with what I regularly stock in the house for Riley and his friends = a helluva lot of Gatorade LOL!

So that's what's going on this week for the Dean household anywho!  Crazy as usual,what else is new eh?  LOTS of new posts on my Bitz of Me Blog if you want some other reading!

SALE still ongoing at the CMC Classroom on my Copic Online Classes thru Aug...go check it out HERE!

I will have a HUGE vacation slideshow for y'all next week...just haven't had time to weed thru all the photos.  But today's project was TOTALLY inspired by the beautiful Key West sunsets we saw while on vacation.

Sunsets in Key West

 

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Sunset Beauty

I love sunsets...always different and each one beautiful and the ones in the tropics just take my breath away.  As my husband says "each sunset is its own beauty and to appreciate each one"....gotta love my husband :)  So to have a true sunset most things photographed in front of it are in silhouette or darkened which I wanted to replicate on my card.  So I stamped my Tilda in white Palette Ink on black cardstock and then cut her out.  The background stamp is a Magnolia stamp "Romantic Sunset Background" from the Wedding Collection and was colored with Copics but I stamped it a second time on black cardstock so I could cut out the fence and beach to add on top of the image. 

This card is for the current Tuesday Challenge at Magnolia-licious "Some Like It Hot" which you can see all the details HERE.

The main image is "Tilda with Ponytail" from Magnolia-licious and she was stamped in white Palette Ink as I noted above.  Hard to see but the background black cardstock was embossed for a little bit of texture.  The sentiment from PTI "Simply Amazing" was stamped in white ink as well.  A few flowers to match the colors, some die cuts from a Memory Box die and rhinestones finish this off.

The sunset was colored with Copics and then I added Stickles to the sun, and while they were wet sprinkled Glamour Dust in clear on top for extra sparkles...I wanted it to almost blind ya like a real sunset sun ;)

Hope you liked my ODE to Sunsets today!  Have a great week!

Tag You're It!

Happy Tuesday friends!!  Hope you had a wonderful weekend & your week is off to a good start!  I had a glorious weekend that involved my Tim McGraw...touching him, seeing him, up close & personal...yeah it was realllllll good LOL!  I have a TON of pics...I took 330 pictures with my camera LOL cuz he's THAT good.  Best concert of my life...literally...and you know how many concerts I go to right?  And I'm not lying it was the BEST!  It was hotter than Hades and Alexa & I waited for hours at the gate to be down in the pit at the stage FIRST.  We made alliances with some other friendly folks and decided we'd all run (about a 1/4 mile to stage) and whoever got there first would save everyone spots.  You gotta make friends when it comes to the pit...there is a "pit" code LOL...and the faster you make buddies the better your experience will be trust me on this!  They were great...funny and not drinking and we had the best time...no one was pushing and everyone was polite amazingly.  We were so hot that running that far I thought I was gonna vomit and the concession stand workers were dying laughing at us all...but we DON'T CARE cuz we got front of the pit baby ;)  Hang around me long enough and I will teach you the wayyyyys of concerts ahahahaha...I've learned a lot of tricks along the way.  Including where to wait, what to do and who to know...if you are a serious concert goer like me you will learn the secrets bwahahaha!  Next concerts for us this summer are Florida Georgia Line/Gary Allen, One Republic, Jason Aldean/Jake Owen and yesssss Luke Bryan AGAIN whoohooo!  I save my pennies to go to concerts...its my crack/cigarette addicition along with iTunes and books on my Kindles...could be worse right? We all have our passions and music rates #1 with this gal!  And I'm bringing up Alexa to love it as much as me hee hee...and my mom too..3 generations of crazy women hee! Nuttin' better right?  I will have a full slideshow up this week of concert pics if you wanna see...for now I leave you with these 2...yes that WAS MY VIEW!!

Mr. Tim McGraw you are still FINE! :) 

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Tag You're It!!

The current Magnolia-licious Tuesday Challenge is "Butterflies"...so today Team B posts which includes yours truly, so hop over to the challenge blog to see all the DT inspiration.  I haven't created a tag in forever so I decided to whip up one for this challenge in a vintage kind-of way.  I used a Mini Magnolia "Japanese Tilda" for this one...I love Asian/Oriental type stamps and knew she'd be lovely with these Prima papers.  You can see all the challenge details at the blog and I hope you stop in to join in!

**Check out the NEW Special Moments Collection at Magnolia-licious...they will be shipping late this week and they are adorable!  Regular sized, Mini sized and dies in this collection! **

All the papers are by Prima and I distressed them and inked the edges.  The lil' postcards/papers on the left of the tag are from the paperpad, I just cut them out & used them as small accents.  The scrolls are a Memory Box die "Val Flourish" and my BUTTERFLIES are punches by MS and I punched them out of the matching papers.  Also in a totally unplanned coincidence the cream paper with writing says "Butterfly Challenge" LOL which I thought was totally cool. :)  The leaves are from a Memory Box die as well "Cottage Leaf"(10% off) .  And some pearls and layered flowers finished it off.

"Japanese Tilda" from Magnolia-licious got colored with TouchTwin Markers in:  GY173,GY174/ GY48/ G43 / CG9,CG5,CG3/ Y169/ YR132,YR133,R131.  Some Stickles on her kimono and the butterflies for pretty sparkle.  The tags were cut with dies I got from the UK...not sure of the their name sorry, its been awhile.

Enjoy your week & see you back here on Thursday!

SeaShells Can Bring Happiness!

Hi friends & Happy Tuesday to you!  I have an extremely hectic week of work and appointments so I'm tight on time and free-moments LOL!  And I'm very upset and saddened by the incident at the Boston Marathon yesterday...its heartbreaking and sickening.  I don't care what anyone says...you don't get used to it...its shocking and upsetting EVERY TIME!  Seems the world is short on basic human kindness & decency these days...when violence is your answer to a problem, you need to check yourself and find another solution...period.  Just doesn't make sense to me and this coming from a gal who scoops up bugs from inside and puts them outside...so the thought of physically hurting another human being is foreign to me.  And the footage that they showed..made me physically sick..can't get it out of my head so I can only imagine how those that were there are faring.  So my heart and prayers and love go out to everyone that was affected...may time bring both peace and healing to them all and may God bring some peace & understanding to us all.

NewsBitz:

-New release from SCACD this Friday whoot!  Go check out all the new yummy 6x6 paper pads in stock...yummilicious (and calorie free)

-The CMC Birthday Event will start April 26th so make sure to pop over HERE and join the Birthday Group so you won't miss a thing! The prizes are AH-MAZING!!!  Stay tuned!

-Stop by the CMC Challenge Group for the latest challenge featuring "REDS"...the DT did some beautiful work so take a look and join in the fun to win BIG!!

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Seashells Bring Happiness!

Today I'm sharing a card just to make myself happy...happy image, happy colors and happy theme.  I think we all need an extra bright spot of happiness this week don't you?  The paper is by Teresa Collins "He Said, She Said" (10% off here)...love her new line of papers and these colors just SCREAM SUMMER ya know!  I used this super sweet Magnolia stamp "Tilda in Key Largo" (wish I was there) from Magnolia-licious...she's from the 2012 Summer Memories Collection.

**Make sure and check out the NEW Once Upon a Time Collection of stamps and dies and Minis...they are so adorable!**

So what did I do to this card LOL:  I added some real seashells to the top right corner with Scor-Tape.  I distressed all my papers with Zutter Distress machine and all the papers and paper elements with PTI 'fresh snow' ink to soften it a bit.  The BEACHY sentiment and sea shells were done on my Silhouette Cameo.  I added Stickles to the BEACHY for sparkle.  The swirlies were done with a Memory Box die, the yellow is a die from Scrap Happy in Ohio called "Sweet Addie Doily" and I love it!.

I'm entering her into the following challenges:

Make It Monday

A Little Bit Crafty (anything goes) 

Heck of a Challenge (just add water) 

Card Mania (punches/dies) 

Crafty Bloggers Network (anything goes) 

Love to Scrap (dies/punches)

This image was colored with TouchTwins...that I love to use...amazingly easy to use and work with your other alcohol markers too!  Stickles were added to the water, around background and the yellow stripes of her dress.  Diamond Glaze on the shell!

** Check out the current Magnolia-licious Challenge HERE **

I wish you all a happy & peaceful week!

Sea You Later!!

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Hope you had a lovely weekend!  I must say I'm SUPER EXCITED this week because its in the mid-70's and 80's all week...WAHOOOO about darn time I say!  So I tried to get a bunch of work & cleaning done yesterday so I can sit out in the sun a bit and work in the garden...this gal needs some SUN-time!  Hubby leaves on Wed for work travel and then he's in Augusta, GA for the Masters (that's golf...hohum boring to me lol) so he can hobknob with Tiger Woods I guess LOL!  Funny thing is, it will be warmer here than in GA while he's there...heehee.  We also got to eat outside on the patio last night for the first time in 2013...I love, love eating outside and we try to do it as much as possible when the weather is nice.  Plan on eating out there tonight too!

We had a crazy Sunday...we were at the Orioles game in Baltimore on Sunday afternoon and it was beautiful weather and fun even if we lost (boohoo).  Then we stopped by a local crab-place in Baltimore to pick up CrabFest-NFL Draft tix for the 25th...its Alexa's 17th birthday on the 25th and she wanted to spend it at Jimmy's Seafood watching the NFL Draft.  Why you ask???  Well she's obsessed with sports like the rest of us AND some of the Ravens football players are hosting the event AND we get to eat crabs and that's what she wanted....'nuff said? LOL!  Then we hauled arse down to DC to catch the Washington Capitals hockey game Sunday evening...we have front row seats along the glass so good seats AND I get to yell loudly.  I'm a loud fan...I'm a passionate fan...and I don't give 2 poo-poos who is there, if I gotta yell I gotta yell LOL.  I yelled at the refs that night for a HORRIBLE call and got us on TV...not once but a few times AND a highfive from one of the players thru the glass hee hee.  Hubby just sits to the side and claps cuz' he says I handle all the trash-talkin' and yelling for him ;)  So we didn't get home until 12:30 am so I must say I'm still a bit drowsy from all that craziness.  Never a dull moment here I tell ya.....

Pics from the weekend:

Starting April 26th thru April 29th the CMC Classroom 

will be celebrating it's 3rd Birthday!  

So all are welcome to come on over and join us in the fun festivities!  We will have lots of fun games & challenges along with some AMAZING prizes that you can win!!  

Go HERE and join our Birthday Group to stay in the "know" :)

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Sea You Later!

This is my project for today's

 Magnolia-licious Tuesday Challenge at the Challenge Blog.  

Its all about "Buttons, Bows & Beads...or All Three"!  I used 2 outta 3...I did a bow of sorts (mine is a frayed one) and beads (aka pearls) on mine!  I used "Dangling Sea Tilda" from the 2010 Bon Voyage Collection (seen here)...I had never used this cutie before but I had used the one with Edwin.  The Bon Voyage Collection remains one of my all time favorite from Magnolia.  You can hop over to the Challenge Blog Here and see the DT gals fabulous projects and join in on the fun too!

I'm entering this into the following fab challenges: 

Make It Monday (anything goes)

Card Mania Challenges (punches & dies)

Crafty Bloggers Network (anything goes)

Lexi's Creations (punches/dies)

MarkerPOP Challenge (anything goes)

Mema's Crafts Monday Challenge (anything goes) 

Stamps + Fun= Creativity (girly) 

 

I kept the style a bit shabby-chic and antiquated...love that look!  The papers are by Prima called "Printerly"...loved the mix of aqua, cream and blacks in this pack of pretty papers.  The tag with the frayed bow in the back is from 7 Gypsies that I inked a bit.  All the papers got inked with Distress Ink in Old Paper.  The fun clock cut-out is an SCACD die called "Classic Timepiece" and the sentiment is by Magnolia as well.  The ribbon is some tea-stained ribbon I got a bit ago on Etsy...love the crumpled, vintage look of it.  The black photo-corners were done with a Spellbinders oval tag die I had...I diecut it out of black cs and then cut it in half and glued it to my paper.  Then I added my "beads" ala champagne colored pearls to the inside....I love to use my dies in many different ways like this.  The aqua mat behind the main image was die cut and then embossed with a ledger-embossing folder and inked.

"Dangling Sea Tilda" was colored with Copics:  BG75,BG72,BG11,BG10 / E11,E00,R20 / W9,W7,W5,W3,W1 / E43,E42,E40 / E47,E31,E50.  I added some Stickles to her shirt and shoes and then Diamond Glaze to the anchor and hat band for shine.  I also inked her a bit around the edges with the DI Old Paper too!

That's all for me today...hope you liked this cutie pop and please stop by the Challenge Blog to see the DT's work and to join in on the challenge!!