A Brand New Challenge Blog!!

Good morning stampers! How many of you love a good challenge blog?? I love peeking in on various challenges throughout the week for inspiration...and what a bonus when there is also a prize up for grabs!! Well, there is a brand new challenge blog brought to us by none other than Crissy Armstrong!! Crissy is a well known artist in the stamping community, and she has recently launched her very own challenge blog named "Sundays with Crissy" for those of us who love using her digital images (available through Squigglefly and Whimsy Stamps)! There will be a new challenge posted every other week, and a fantastic prize to be given away once a month! I have always loved Crissy's images and was absolutely thrilled when she asked me to be a guest designer for Sundays With Crissy this week...what an honour!


I need to ask, have you taken the digi plunge yet?? The beauty of digital images is that they are so versatile. You can resize them to fit your project accordingly. (I also love that you can shop from home, and instantly have your images delivered to your email address!!)

Crissy's challenge this week is to use dots!! She's leaving that up to your interpretation. You could have dots in your paper, on your coloured image, emboss them, dotted ribbon...so many possibilities!! Personally, I love polka-dots, so I tend to pick up a lot of papers with them!

Crissy's image on my card today is called "Lion Hugs", available at Squigglefly. I printed "Lion Hugs" onto Neenah cardstock and began colouring with my Copic markers. I then added in additional shading with my Conte crayons to soften things a little, and to achieve greater depth. (warning: Conte crayons have the tendency to be messy!) Also, make sure to use your Copics first! You don't want to ruin the nib of your markers. (Remember though, they are replaceable if you should accidentally damage one.) I've had this polka-dotted paper by Karen Foster in my stash for quite some time, and thought it worked quite nicely with the striped paper by KaiserCraft. The sentiment is my own, just printed off my computer.

I decided to attempt a "dotty" background a la Crissy Armstrong!! (I thought it quite fitting, no??) Crissy creates gorgeous backgrounds to showcase her images, and has a fantastic video tutorial on her blog. This background was made with various cool greys and blues.

I adore this image...it's so beautiful, and an absolute joy to colour! I hope you plan to stop by Sundays With Crissy and become a follower. Now, you must use one of Crissy's digital images to qualify for the prize. You can find them at either Squigglefly Digital Stamps or Whimsy Stamps. Would you like to know what Crissy is offering to one lucky participant this month? Feast your eyes on this:

Are you drooling?? What an amazing give away...15 Copic Ciao markers! This really is a fantastic prize...so very generous!! Don't miss out on your chance to win! You can find the challenge rules over at Sundays With Crissy...you can also link up your creation there! Crissy also has a DT call currently open, but you only have until April 30, 2010 to apply. You can find the details on her post here.

Thanks again Crissy for allowing me to be a guest designer this week!!

Blessings,

Melanie

Stamps: "Lion Hugs" by Crissy Armstrong available at Squigglefly, sentiment by me!

Ink: Copic markers

Paper: Neenah, Bazzill, Co-ordinations, Karen Foster, KaiserCraft

Embellishments: Metal corners from the dollar store