Friday Fun with The Character Cafe!!

Happy Friday Everyone!! Welcome to The Character Cafe's Weekly Friday Challenge!! Our challenge, issued by one of our super fab DT members, was the following:

• use only ONE Designer Paper
  
• limitless layers
• buttons
• ribbon
  

I chose to work with the RIDICULOUSLY ADORABLE "The Serenade" image!!! Perfect for my FAVORITE holiday...VALENTINE'S DAY!! I love it. I always have!! I love the candy, the colors, the cuteness, everything about Valentine's day is just simply divine to me!!

My base is Martha Stewart Cardstock that I purchased in a huge pack on sale at Michael's. The next layer is SU! Tempting Turquoise...my favorite all time color in crafting! The sparkly red paper is Doodlebug designs 'sugar coated' designer paper that I just picked up the other night at The Paper Source. I'm hoarding it by only using a little because I love it so much! LOL!

You'll notice that I used a cool loopy stitch on my NEW! sewing machine to stitch those 3 layers together. I then colored up my cutie pie with my Copics and Sakura Gel Pens. I also added some glittery fun with my glue pen and Martha Stewart glitter in Turquoise. I backed my image with black cardstock and adhered it with pop dots.

My buttons are from my LSS, decorated with ribbon and cord and adhered with pop dots. Lastly, I tied a pretty, sheer, turquoise ribbon in a loose knot a the bottom to balance everything out.

I hope you enjoy my creation!!

Don't forget to head over to TCC to see what fab new images are out!!

We'd love for you to come play along with us using this week's challenge!!! You could win 2 free TCC images!!! Please link your creation in my comments section to be entered to win!!!

I also want to announce the winner of the adorable Love Bug Cupid image that I used on last weeks New Release Blog Hop. My winner is Mary!!! YAY!! This is a super cute image for that lovey dovey day!! Mary - head over to The Character Cafe Store in order to contact Kendra with your e-mail address so she can send you your new image!!!

Don't forget to check out my fellow DT Member's creations this week as well!!

Billie's Scrappetique
Heather's Heavinly Stampations
Luminous In My Chaotic Life
Angie Cortes Designs
Little Card Maker
Am I A Scrap Addict?
Useless Crafts
Touch of Creation
My Cardstock Creations
Fink's Happenings
Handmade by Lilacanglia

Thanks for visiting!!

XOXO-
Meredith

Robyn's Fetish WW with a Twist!! NEW RELEASE HOP HOP HOP!!!

Hello Everyone!! And welcome to a Twisted Wacky Wednesday!!! Today the team and I are creating with BRAND NEW IMAGES!!! Yes!! It's a new release hop combined with a Wacky Wednesday FREEBIE!!! The freebie will be revealed at the end of the hop!!! So come on and hop along with us!!!

If you arrived here from Michelle's blog then you are on the right track!! If not, please start HERE so that you don't miss one of the team's beautiful creations!

I had the great pleasure of working with Valerie Valentine. Seriously? Could she be ANY cuter!?!?!?! My muse if you will was this adorable cupcake box that I picked up at the $ spot at Target. (I love that place!!!)
My card measures 7 by 5.5 and is SU! Tempting Turquoise. I rounded the 2 outer corners of every layer on the right hand side of the card.

My next layer is PTI white cardstock, followed by the zig zaggy, multicolored fabulous paper. I believe it's American Crafts. The next layer is PTI Pure Poppy (such a great color for Valentine's Day!) and on top of that is a hearty pretty pink layer of Heidi Grace Valentine's Day paper. Both of those pieces are edge distressed with my Tim Holtz distressing tool. Hard to find...but AWESOME for distressing. I buy them a few at a time when I can find them!!

The outside layer is stitched with a wide floating zig zag while the pink and red layer is stitched with a sort of loopy pattern.

I printed Valerie on white cardstock, on some turquoise and pink flowery paper that I had lying around in my scrap pile and again on pink Heidi Grace Valentine's Day paper.
Valerie is colored with a combination of Copics and paint pens. Her bows and the heart in her hand are all glazed up. As are the candy hearts at her feet that are cut out and paper pieced from the print out from the pink HG DP. I did color them pink underneath though so that the image didn't look blank if you see it from the side. The candy hearts are set on the card with small pop dots.

Her skirt is also paper pieced (this is my favorite part of the card). I ever so carefully trimmed her skirt out, dipped the edges in my Essential Glue Pad and then again in Martha Stewart turquoise glitter. I colored underneath just as I did with the hearts to give it the most depth that I could. The secondary layer of her skirt was printed out on yet another color of DP - blue and pink flowers, adhered on and then coated with Glaze for more dimension. Her skirt is added on with large pop dots. I left her legs bare - as I was going to put tights on her but I figured that would be going overboard. So I colored her socks a pretty shade of green and left it at that.
Valerie is matted on a piece of acrylic "paper" from Hambly that has turquoise circles on it. I stitched in a zig zag pattern to hold the two pieces together. Once my card was entirely assembled I added 4 layers of SU! Tempting Turquoise ribbon to resemble a sort of pom-pom shape. I fluffed the individual pieces of ribbon out so that they would have more presence.
I have to say THANK YOU TARGET for the color inspiration!!! =) I love how my card turned out!!
Here is a shot of the materials that I used. It's easier for me to photograph then to type it all out.
I hope you have enjoyed my creation today!!

Please keep hopping along onto Leanne's blog to see what deliciousness she's come up with today!!!

Don't forget...at the end of the hop you'll find the WW NEW RELEASE IMAGE FREEBIE!!!

Thanks for hopping with us today!!

XOXO-
Meredith

QKD NEW RELEASE SKETCH TUESDAY!!

Hello!! Welcome to our QKD Royal Tuesday Hop!!! If you came here from the WIS blog then you are on the right track!! If not, start here so that you don't miss one fabulous creation with our QKD new releases!!

Today is a sketch challenge!! Here is the sketch we were given to work with:


Let me introduce you to the most beautiful Hearts On My Sleeves mermaid...one of the newest from Maigan-Lynn!!

I can't decide if her hair or her tattoos are my absolute favorite!! Maybe both!!

I decided to turn the sketch 90 degrees to give myself more room to groove. I've been trying hard to steer away from holiday-esque styles, colors, papers. It's hard after creating for the holidays for 2+ months!! =)

I grabbed for my PTI Lemon Tart as my card base. I then grabbed some of PTI's Scarlet Jewel for the backing of my BEE paper which I purchased from The Paper Source.

My next layer is from a Matte Stack that I purchased on sale at Michael's....the red circle paper. Hearts on My Sleeves is stamped on white PTI paper and colored in my Copics and paint pens.

I used a silver brad with silver cording as the finishing touch in lieu of ribbon.

I used black to back the tan paper where I stamped Vamp from the Jersey's set. (so cool!!!) It's one of my favs!!
I truly LOVE that it's 'simple' yet intricate at the same time. I hope you've enjoyed my creation!!!

Now - off you go to Sara's blog to see what gorgeousness she's got in store for us today!!

Don't forget!! The QUEEN is always having a sale or deal of some kind!!! Check it out!! Especially with all of the fab newness in the shoppe!!!

Tuesday Twenty

Take 20% off everything!
That makes all clearance items 75% off
(Good today through 01/31/10)
use coupon code: TT20

Thanks so much for visiting!!

XOXO-
Meredith

Congratulations and God Bless Baby B!

My family and I were honored to be invited to our very fabulous friend's son's Christening yesterday. He is a GORGEOUS baby boy and his sister is even more delicious and fabulous if that's at all possible! ;)

Anyway, here is the card that I made to give to Mummy and Daddy in celebration and honor of this very special occasion.
I started with a base of PTI Aqua mist. The next layer is basic white cardstock from PTI as well followed by a light olive cardstock from Martha Stewart. The next layer is the designer paper from American Crafts. I thought that the water droplets would be appropriate for just such an occasion. After that I stitched around the edges with a leaf embroidery design on my sewing machine. I wanted some kind of cross or church image but I don't have one lone stamp that has anything of the like on it. I have lots of Jewish holiday stamps but unfortunately no Christian types of any kind!!

But I'm good at improvising so I went into MS Word and did a clip art search for cross. There were a lot to choose from but I didn't want it being huge and imposing on the sweet and delicate card so I chose this adorable one of a little church on a hillside with 3 swirly stars in the sky and one flying through. I thought the 3 could represent each person, Mum, Dad and Big Sister and the shooting star would be our baby boy as the STAR of the day!! =) Anyway, I scaled down the image quite a bit in order to create a border out of it. Once I had printed and matted and adhered it to the card, I then used my glaze on the church to make it pop and puff up a little bit more and I used my glue pen to dazzle up the "family" stars. ;)Lastly, I had already printed out this adorable baby boy image from Robyn's Fetish. In MS Paint I removed the squiggly from his head as Baby B has such fair hair that it just wouldn't be an accurate representation of him! LOL! I colored him with my Copics and Copic blender. I trimmed him out and snuggled him nicely in the middle of the card slightly overlapping the border below. But the top needed "something" so I tied a ribbon and that just didn't work so I cut the ribbon loops and cut the rest of the ribbon off and just made it a simple double knot. I adhered that on and voila! All done!! I LOVE how it came out and I hope my friends did too!!

So many Congratulations and Blessings to them!!!

XOXO-
Meredith

My Darling Alexandra...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY (last month) ALI!!!

I recently made this mixed media piece for my darlingist friend Alexandra for her birthday. Explaining our friendship is such a great story. Ali and I have been friends since very early childhood. We shared time in elementary school together and then ended at different schools for a few years and then ended back together as good friends during high school.

After high school, it's ALWAYS hard to maintain contact. We did for the first year or so but then slowly drifted. It happens...unfortunately.
Well...thanks to the "MAGIC" of Facebook we reconnected this past summer....just when I needed her the most. Come to find out...we've been living less than 10 minutes apart for almost 8 years and had never run into each other!!
She is magical, gentle, beautiful, full of passion for what she does and what others do...she is THE BEST Mom to two of my favorite children in the entire universe. Oh and she has a fab hubby too ;)
We don't get to see nearly enough of each other but when we do it's like a cosmic connection. We just absorb every second we get with what's going on in each other's lives. And it's easy because it's not like it's a new friendship. We have history - off and on off and on - but a history nonetheless.

So during one of our visits, we were looking at old photos and she showed me her parents engagement photo. It's STUNNING beyond stunning. Since she's a fan of my work so she said "can you do something with this". So this is what I did with it!! And don't worry...I scanned the original and used a copy of it. She still has the original ;)

I have to tell you...I worked on this for a long time. Not that it was laborious....I just wanted it to be perfect for her. And when I was done my brain hurt and my heart swelled because I was so happy that it was right for her.

Just a few cool points of note about this piece:

• The background that everything is adhered to is an antique book cover that fell off of an old book that I've had in my basement for years.

• The background text is actually a blown up version of The Psalm of David. Not for religious purposes....but I find it an extremely soothing passage. It's poetic to me more than anything else...

• That turquoise "button" you see is a button but the turquoise part is actually copper that has oxidized because it is THAT old. It's from my Great Grandmother's stash!

• The frame is believe it or not from Target!! I just really banged it up with sand paper to give it it's patina. And yes, the ( ) are Hambly Rub on's.

Thank you so much for visiting!!!! I hope you enjoyed my mixed media creation!!!

XOXO-
Meredith

Robyn's Fetish - Weekly Challenge #14 - Color Challenge!!!

Hello Everyone!! Welcome to our Saturday Robyn's Fetish Color Challenge!!! You'll most DEFINITELY want to play along and create with us for a chance to win 6...yes I said 6 Robyn Fetish Images!!!

Today's challenge is a COLOR challenge...red, yellow, blue, black and white. You can use any RF image or really any image at all!! What you'll need to do is add a link to your creation in the comments section of the Robyn's Fetish Challenge Blog to be entered into our contest!!! Easy peasy!!!

My creation uses the adorable paw prints image from Robyn. Some of you may have read that recently we lost our older poochie. Simply to old age. I still miss him every day but all of the fond memories are starting to heal the wound and dull the pain.
We also have an almost 5 year old fabulous puppy (I call them puppies forever!) here with us in the present. So...in her honor...this card is dedicated. Our entire family purposefully gives her extra love every day so as to not lose sight of what we still have.

I started with PTI Lemon Tart cardstock as my base. Next I used some MS gorgeous blue to really make the next layer POP!! The next layer being from a Mat Stack that I got on super sale at my local Michael's!! I don't usually groove on the stacks because they tend to be on the "cheezy" side but I have to say...they are coming a long way from where they used to be! This bubbly paper is from DCWV. I bought 2 different stacks from them and am very pleased with both the quality and the selection within the stack!

But I digress! I stitched the bubbly layer to the Martha Stewart blue using my NEW sewing machine!! It has 59 stitches and one is cuter than the next!!
I then added some PTI Lemon Tart ribbon tying it in a flat, neat bow.

The next layer is more of the Martha blue layered with American Crafts DP that has water droplets on them. So cute. I stamped LOVE in red and heat set it with embossing powder. You'll notice that the O in LOVE is a paw print. Tee hee!! I used a straight stitch to outline this layer.

I scaled the paw prints down using MS Paint and printed out a bunch of them on good cardstock. I then punched them out and matted them on the same yellow to make them pop. I then adhered them together in a row and used a cool wavy stitch to hold them tight. I then used my glue pen to trace the letters BOW WOW and covered them in red glitter. They are affixed to the card using pop dots.
Inside the card I wanted something really special and heartwarming so I used The Sun image that's available ON SALE at Robyn's Shoppe!!! (as is EVERYTHING!!!) I printed it out, colored it with my Copics, Prismacolor and Pantone markers. I carefully trimmed it out, sparkled up the center and adhered it with another pop-dot.

I hope you like my creation!! I can't wait to see what you come up with! Don't forget to check out my fellow team members creations as well!!!

• Jeanette
• Leanne
• Michelle
• Wendy

Remember the COLOR challenge...red, yellow, blue, black and white. You can use any RF image or any image at all. Then add a link to your creation in the comments section of the Robyn's Fetish Challenge Blog to be entered into our contest!!!

6 FREE images could be yours!!!

Come play!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

XOXO-
Meredith

The Character Cafe New Release BLOG HOP!!

Hi Everyone!!! Welcome to a FAB NEW RELEASE HOP!!! If you came here from Lola's blog then you are on the right track!! If not, hop back to the beginning so that you don't miss one AMAZING creation from the TCC Team!!

Today I was privileged to work with Love Bug Cupid!! I couldn't stop thinking of Pepe Le Pew from The Looney Tunes when I saw this RIDICULOUSLY adorable skunk and his fluttery, glittery bee friend!! ;)
My card measures 5x5 (a standard go to for me!). My base is in PTI Kraft cardstock, followed by DP from the Belle Cafe Stack from DCWV as is its matching piece behind our little friends. In between the DP layers is a slice of PTI ivory cardstock. I used a matching leaf design on my sewing machine to stitch and match the pattern on the red/yellow/black glittery cardstock behind my image.
Our buddies are colored with my Copics, Prismacolor and Pantone markers and then all glittered up in JUST the right places =) I then matted my image on black cardstock and just did a quick straight stitch around them. I added a strip of rhinestones and a silver rivet for balance after I'd rounded 2 of the 4 corners. I then added a bit of hemp twine through the rivet for some extra texture. Lastly, I used some of this gorgeous Summer Sun Swiss dot ribbon from PTI to tie in a cutie bow to tuck our friends into.
I truly hope you've enjoyed my creation with this awesome new image for that special someone!! ;)

Now...onto official business!! LOL!

The code you need from me today is : Love Bug Code "e".

The Grand Prize will be 4 of the January New Releases!!!

The Code that you are collecting along the way is good for 30% off entire purchase at The Cafe Store!!!

To qualify for the Grand Prize, you need to comment on all of the Design Team members blogs and let us know what kind of cards you make most often at the Cafe Blog!!!

Now off you go to Rachel's blog to see what deliciousness she's got for us today!!!

Thanks SO much for visiting!!

XOXO-
Meredith

Robyn's Fetish!!! Wacky Wednesday is BACK in full swing!!!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOO! And we're BACK!! Yay Robyn!!! What a fantastic way to start out the new year!!!

Welcome to today's Wacky Wednesday featuring the ADORABLE Gertrude Elephant!!!
My card is 5x5 (a standard go-to for anyone who knows me!) I used Martha Stewart cardstock that I just got on super sale at Michael's along with this ridiculously adorable cloud paper from American Crafts. The reverse side is this awesome sunny orange color! You wouldn't think they compliment each other as well as they do!!

I was SO trying to get away from the holiday/new years vibe which is why I chose this color scheme.

Gertie's dress is entirely sparkled up with Martha Stewart turquoise glitter. I colored the rest of her with my Copic and Prismacolor markers (I'm amassing quite a collection!!! hehhee...). Her hat flower is colored in both blue and green Sakura sparkly gel pens. Her nails are painted in a pale pink....how tre-ladylike!!

The sentiment was printed using MS Word on white cardstock. I then adhered it to black cardstock for some added dimension, stitched around the outside with my BRANDY NEW SEWING MACHINE and then adhered it with pop dots.

I was going for simple and clean. And I think I achieved my goal!! What do you think??
You MUST run over to the challenge blog and pick Gertrude da Elephant up and hit the shoppe as well to grab up many more awesome images that are right now ON SALE!!!!!! Rockin' Robyn is having a fantastic 30% off sale so you'd be foolish not too!!!!

Don't forget to check out my fellow team members creations as well and DEFINITELY run over to the challenge blog to pick up this gorgeous freebie!!!

Thanks so much for visiting!!!

• Robyn - Our Fearless Leader!!!
  
• Jeanette
• Leanne
• Michelle
• Wendy

We'll see you this Saturday for our awesome weekly blog challenge!!!!

XOXO-
Meredith

JAN 5 QKD NEW RELEASE MERMAID SKETCH ONE

Hello!! Welcome to our QKD Royal Tuesday Hop!!! If you came here from the WIS blog then you are on the right track!! If not, start here so that you don't miss one fabulous creation with our QKD new releases!!

Today is a sketch challenge!! Here is the sketch we were given to work with:

We are using a new Maigan-Lynn mermaid - Awaiting The Moment!! I was blown away when I received this as my image to work with. I am loving that she's expecting!! And that her dragon friend is also expecting with a beautiful, speckled egg nestled snuggly in her tail as snug as the bundle that our mermaid is carrying!!

I started with some purple textured cardstock and some scalloped edged DP that I've been dying to use!! I also pulled out some PTI aqua mist paper and matching ribbon. I didn't quite know where I was going with this but I tend to pull materials out that I think I *might* use but don't always end up using them all. It's kind of like 'stream of consciousness' writing....I call it 'stream of consciousness' creating!

So I set everything aside and colored my image that is stamped in basic black SU! ink. I colored the image with my Copics and paint pens. I then added a few drops of glaze to the bubbles for some added dimension. I backed the image with black cardstock as well as my second stamp which says "friendship is love with wings". I used stickers from an older SU! scrappin' kit as my flower and I added a blue strip also from the kit to the center to mimic the sketch.
My sentiment is popped up on foam adhesive and lastly I tied the ribbon adding my one last touch (it was a little empty without that there).

I hope you've enjoyed my new creation with one of our newest mermaids!!

Now - off you go to Sara's blog to see what gorgeousness she's got in store for us today!!

Don't forget!! The QUEEN is always having a sale or deal of some kind!!! Check it out!! Especially with all of the fab newness in the shoppe!!!

Make Your Own Sale
Take 10% off everything!
That makes all clearance items 65% off

(Good today through 01/10/10)
use coupon code: BL10

What's New?
Personalized Address Stamps
Personalized Etsy/Artfire Stamps
Personalized Handmade By Stamps

Thanks for visiting!!

XOXO-
Meredith

DESIGN TEAM CALL!!! ROBYN'S FETISH DIGITAL STAMPING COMPANY!!

Design Team Call!!!

Design Team Call

Hi Everyone,

Robyn's Fetish is a digital stamp and sticker company. We are looking to add a few VERY enthusiastic and dynamic crafters to our amazing Design Team to help to promote our fabulous range of products!!

We are looking for members with great coloring skills, team members that are creative and timely, inspiring, friendly, team players and of course to have LOTS OF ENTHUSIASM!!!

As a Design Team member we will require the following from you:

1. Must have own blog that you post to regularly.

2. Participate in weekly challenges, write in detail about the challenge and creation on your blog with a link to the Robyn's Fetish challenge blog.

3. Complete a minimum of 1 card/project per week using RF digital stamps/stickers and post on you blog and online galleries.

4. Actively participate in special group activities such as new release blog hops, Wacky Wednesday Freebies, etc.

5. Add Robyn's Fetish logo, links to your blog as well as links to your fellow Design Team members blogs

6. Actively promote Robyn's Fetish wherever possible.

7. Promote new releases, announcements, contests etc on your blog with a link back to RF Blog.

8. Lots of energy, interest and enthusiasm!

As a member of the Design Team you will receive:

1. An opportunity to play with a generous range of digital stamps & stickers.

2. Will be promoted as a Design Team member on the RF blog and other Design Team members blogs.

3. Your bio will be available on the RF Blog.

The deadline for this call is Saturday, January 16th at midnight. The Design Team term will be 6 months with the ability to re-apply at the end of your term.

To apply to be a Design Team member please email meredith.winston@gmail.com the following details:

1. Name

2. Mailing Address

3. Email Address

4. Blog Address

5. Link to any online galleries

6. A list of the forums you like to visit (we don't need your user name)

7. Any other design team positions both past & present

8. A bit about yourself - your crafting background, where your passions lie, why Robyn's Fetish would be a good fit for you and anything else you'd like us to know!!

9. 3 samples of your work (cards, alterables, atcs, journal art, etc). They can be things you've already made, no need to rush and make anything special. If you have creations with RF images that's great or if you choose to make some with RF images that's also great but definitely not a requirement at all. Just a sampling of what you think is your best work.

We SO look forward to hearing from you!!!

Crafty Hugs!!!

Robyn - Owner
Meredith - Design Team Coordinator