Flowers for Mom

Happy May 1st! We've arrived at the "...brings May flowers" part of the saying :)

To open up our Clever Dexter Challenge for the month, I've brought a little flower power.

Distress Inks are literally my favorite blending inks! I used Shaded Lilac and Salty Ocean to match up with our optional color palette this month. I did use a little photo editing (no surprise there LOL) to duplicate and rotate the blossoms.  A little swipe of Wild Honey ink for the centers of the flowers and some Stickles for shine were all this lovely digital stamp from Alex Syberia Design needed :)

This Month's Challenge Theme is:

INK BLENDING

We are so thrilled to have AlexSyberiaDesign as our Sponsor this month and she will be providing the Prize for this challenge. I hope you'll join us again this month and share some of your amazing, wonderful, and beautiful projects.  We love it when you use our sponsor's digital image, however, it's not a must in order to qualify as our Grand Prize Winner.

Clever Dexter Challenge #29

MAY 2022

THEME -  INK BLENDING (whatever that means to you)

OPTIONAL COLOR PALETTE -  Honey Yellow, Ocean Blue, Apricot, Pale Green, Lilac (optional)

SPONSOR - Alex Syberia Design

Thanks for stopping by :)

Deidre

Grow Our Friendship

Hey hey! I have another Stampers Delights awesome digi stamp design. I'm sharing over at the Clever Dexter Challenge blog. We're thinking Spring all month long.

This sweet spring set, called Chibi Friendships Grow, was provided to us for this month's challenge and it's so cute. I wanted to play up the "grow" part of the sentiment, so I used my photo editing software to create a stack of pots and tilted the watering can. The curly hair is always done by hand when I color :)

If you'd like to see videos of my photo editing, please drop a comment below!

We want you to join us! Check out how to play along below and be sure to share in the gallery before March 31st. I can't wait to see what you create!

Don't forget the theme this month is: HELLO SPRING

Cleverly Concocted Challenge Rules

1. The challenge runs from all month
2. Please read the challenge rules for more details.
3. Our mandatory theme for this month is HELLO SPRING.
4. We would love to see you use our OPTIONAL color palette YELLOW, ORANGE, PEACH, LIGHT GREEN, AND PINK, but its not mandatory to qualify for our prize.
5. Have fun creating & use the link up below to enter your creation!!!

PRIZE FROM OUR SPONSOR

Stampers Delights

Thanks for stopping by! 

xoxo Deidre :)

Copics & Inks

Her: E11, E13, E15

Hair:  C9, C5, C3

Dress & Flower: Y08, Y15, Y17, YR18, YR24, YG13, G14, YG67

Leggings: R83, R85

Flower pots: E08, E09, E35

Background: Pineapple Paradise, Luscious Lime, & Drop Dead Gorgeous Green Lindys Stamp Gang sprays

Foxy Spring Kisses

Hey hey! It's the first day of March and a chilly one here in the Tampa Bay area. We're kicking off the month at the Clever Dexter Challenge with a Hello Spring theme and a lovely sponsor, Stampers Delights.

This little foxy spring set, called Kawaii Spring Fox, was provided to us for this month's challenge and it's so adorable. Seriously, check out the digis you get for £2.50 ($3.35 US)!! I knew I wanted more flowers...I mean what girl doesn't :) So you know how I love to use my photo editing software to create something unique with digital stamps...

How I did it:

1. Flipped the fox layer to look left

2. Duplicated the daisy to make another one of a different size

3. Layered the daisies in front of the fence

4. Duplicated the grass to make a 3rd tuft and adjust the size

5. Flipped and duplicated the 1/2 butterfly to make both sets of wings on the fox's nose

6. Offset the wings

I used the design aesthetic of odd numbers a ton here LOL. See if you notice them all. I also did a sprayed background and lots of Copic coloring. I hope you enjoy!

We want you to join us! Check out how to play along below and be sure to share in the gallery before March 31st. I can't wait to see what you create!

Don't forget the theme this month is: HELLO SPRING

Cleverly Concocted Challenge Rules

1. The challenge runs from all month
2. Please read the challenge rules for more details.
3. Our mandatory theme for this month is HELLO SPRING.
4. We would love to see you use our OPTIONAL color palette YELLOW, ORANGE, PEACH, LIGHT GREEN, AND PINK, but its not mandatory to qualify for our prize.
5. Have fun creating & use the link up below to enter your creation!!!

PRIZE FROM OUR SPONSOR

Stampers Delights

Check out my colors below. Thanks for stopping by! 

MY SUPPORT AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU UKRAINE 

xoxo Deidre :)

Copics & Inks

Fox: YR24, YR18, E19, C1, R21, R22

Fence:  E23, E25, E27, E29

Flowers & grass: Y00, Y08, YG13, G14, YG67

Butterfly: 00, Y08, R21, R22

Background: Pineapple Paradise, Cosmopolitan Pink, and Fuzzy Navel Peach Lindys Stamp Gang sprays

You Wonderful Sunflower

Hey hey! I'm up today over at the Clever Dexter Challenge blog with my first card for February. All month, we're working with a theme I love: FAVORITE TECHNIQUE.

 

Once again, the super sweet sponsor, Alex Syberia Design, sent some absolutely awesome digital stamps for us to use month as inspiration. I couldn't pass up this giant sunflower called Hello Summer...it's my actual favorite flower IRL (in real life)  :) This card has a combination of two techniques I love, I hope that's not cheating lol. First: making my own backgrounds using stencils, spray inks, paints...pretty much all mediums. I used two stencils, a few red, yellow, and orange spray inks, a mica powder, and ink blending to create the brick wall background and to color the sunflower.

Second: layering for dimension. This sunflower has all of these luscious petals that I knew would be great to fussy cut some out, pop up the layer with foam adhesive, and layer a duplicate panel behind it.

Check out all of my supplies and colors below.

There's also a prize!

The WINNER this month will receive a $15 Gift Card to be used at her Etsy Shop.

Grand prize winner of 2 digi stamps from our sponsor's Etsy Shop is chosen randomly, so everyone has an equal chance to win! You should definitely get in on the action.

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see your creation in our gallery this month! 

xoxo Deidre

Supplies:

Stencils: Tiny Circles TCW361S, Bricks TCW191S (The Crafters Workshop)

Spray Inks: Hog Wart's Orange, Mango Mania, Pineapple Paradise, Luscious Lime & Drop Dead Gorgeous Green (Lindy's Stamp Gang)

Ink pads: Mustard Seed & Wild Honey Distress Ink, clear Versamark

Mica powder: Mission Bells Brown (Lindy's Stamp Gang)

Stamps: Hello Summer (digi), Lovely Day Sentiments (Reverse Confetti, polymer)

Dream Catching You

Hey hey! I'm up at the Clever Dexter Challenge today. We're keeping the theme going all month: SOMETHING NEW.

Our awesome sponsor, Joy Clair Deigns, has some truly lovely images to use for your cards and craft projects. This dream catcher was too beautiful to pass up. I knew I would be using some watercolors, so I made sure to use my craft iron to really dry and set the ink. I did use a little photo editing to create the center banner by copying and pasting some of the images from the digital stamp along side the sentiment.

TIP: Use the same markers you're using to color your image and color a strip of paper for a perfect match. That's my secret for the 2 green borders around my sentiment :)

Prize from Our Sponsor:

The WINNER this month will receive your choice of 2 Digital Stamp Sets from Joy Clair Designs.

Cleverly Concocted Challenge Rules

The challenge runs from January 1 to January 31

Please read the challenge rules for more details.

Our mandatory theme for this month is SOMETHING NEW (whatever that means to you)

We would love to see you use our OPTIONAL color palette (shown below) but its not mandatory to qualify for our prize.

White, Blue, Yellow, Orange, and Green

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see your creation in our gallery this month! Don't forget to tag us in your Instagram posts so we can check out your awesomeness! #cleverdexter, #cleverdexterchallenge, @cleverdexter

xoxo Deidre

Supplies:

Digital Stamps: Joy Clair Designs Floral Catcher
Copic markers: YR02, YR04, YR07, B00, B02, Y00, Y02, Y06, Y08, G43, G46, Y13, Y15, Y17
Watercolor: Lindy's Stamp - Gang Blue Hawaiian Blue
Sequins: Simon Says Stamp - Assorted Moonshine

Gnomebody Loves You Like I Do

Hey hey! It's almost the end of May. I'm sharing another creation at the Clever Dexter Challenge blog as we wind down our May "Celebration" theme.

First of all, I have to give a big shoutout to AlexSyberiaDesign for the digi stamps this month. I plucked this little gnome out of a whole row of them in her "Valentine Gnome" digi. Her designs are fun, playful, pretty, you name it! Be sure to check out her Etsy shop.

The business of this card :) If you read my previous tip, you'll know I always...yep always...print 2 copies of my digi stamps. This way I can create my background, do any doodling, inking, spraying, whatevs all over it and not have to worry about masking or staying inside the lines. I use the 2nd copy to color, fussy cut, and pop dot onto the card to create some dimension.

I stenciled the background with a sunray design using a yellow and orangish ink for our yellow & marigold color palette this month. I sponged on the kisses, xoxo, and love the same way, then traced them with a black pen. All that was left, was to water color the gnomie and jazz up his glasses with some silver embossing powder. I created the sentiment myself - I had to have a gnome pun! :)

Ok, now it's your turn! See the deets below and join us!

Cleverly Concocted Challenge Rules 

WHEN: The challenge runs from May 1 to May 31

WHERE: Use the link-up at the bottom of our May 1st post to upload your entries

WHAT: Our mandatory theme for May is CELEBRATION

Our OPTIONAL color palette is Purple Rose, Pink Pirouette, Coral, Yellow, Marigold

Thanks for stopping by!

Deidre :)

My Lucky Stars with Clever Dexter

Happy Sunday crafties! I'm up on the Clever Dexter Challenge blog with the theme JUST BECAUSE and optional color combo of: blue, pink, red, dark red, & white. 

I have totally loved playing with CasettaSullalbero digital stamps! This is my second creation this month...and the month is almost over....wowsers!

I love being able to take a digi stamp and switch up the ethnicity a little by using fabulous Copic skin tone colors (usually they resemble my own) and adding textures of coils to the hair. You can see my transformation of "Alice" below :)

I also did a little "digital stamping" with the image to create some extra toadstools. For my background, I did some watercolor smooshing with blue, pink, and green spray inks then layered a diecut star background on top. All of my supplies are listed below :)

I hope you give it a try!

We can't wait to see your challenge projects. It might be cards, a scrapbook layout, home decor, tags, journals, notebooks, bookmarks, and more! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Deidre

Clever Dexter Challenge #14

February 2021

THEME -  Just Because (whatever that means to you)

OPTIONAL COLOR PALETTE -  Red, Pink, Blue, White, and Dark Red (optional)

SPONSOR -  CasettaSullalbero 

Copics & Inks

Pinks: RV34, RV17, RV66 (strange mix LOL, but it worked!)

Blues: B24, B28

Reds: R24, R29, R59

Skin: E11, E13, E15 (my favorite go-to)

Eyes: E23, E25, E27

Hair: Multiliner SP 0.35 Black, BV25, C9

Mushroom shadows: C1, C3, C5

Lindy's Stamp Gang Flat Fabio sprays: Caribbean Blue, Hibiscus Rose, Luscious Lime

Dies & Stamps

Simon Says Stamp! Stacked Stars die

Hero Arts CL582 (Year Round Sentiment)

Happy NOT Valentine's Day with Clever Dexter

Let's just get right to it today :) This bunny and his sign were the perfect images for me to play with!

I passed on celebrating Valentine's Day way back in the 9th grade and have kept up my tradition..even though other people tend to ignore my preference LOL.

We're doing some pretty creative crafting at the Clever Dexter challenge this month. 

I have the pleasure of sharing my creation using a funny, snarky little bunny named Bunny Valentine from the digital stamp collection by CasettaSullalbero.

If you want to see how I took this single bunny and made him a couple, check out my video on YouTube below.

 

Be sure to pop in, create a lil something, and share with us in the gallery! You have until the end of the month. Thanks for stopping by!

Clever Dexter Challenge #14
February 2021

THEME -  Just Because (whatever that means to you)

OPTIONAL COLOR PALETTE -  Red, Pink, Blue, White, and Dark Red (optional)
SPONSOR -  CasettaSullalbero 

xoxo Deidre

Copics

Pink Bunny: R81, R83, R85, RV10, RV13

Sign: R24, R29, R37

Blue Bunny: B91, B93, B95, B29, B66

Multiliner SP 0.35 Black

Dies

Impression Obsession DIE060-I (grass)

Recollections Card and Mat Confetti 542702 (heart background & hearts)

 

Kick it off with KINDNESS - Clever Dexter Challenge

We made it!! Happy New Year 2021 to everyone! I know there were such heavy burdens to carry this past year. As we go into the new year, the Clever Dexter Challenge has the perfect theme : KINDNESS. Our (optional) color palette is White, Blue, Yellow, Purple, and Green.

I created this card using a lovely floral digi stamp from our creative sponsor AlexSyberiaDesign.  You should really check out her Etsy shop! I can't wait to craft more with her designs this month. She's also offering a $15 gift card to her shop for this month's winner!

As usual, I jumped right in with my Copic markers. I wanted to add some dimension to the card, so I fussy cut around the flowers and mounted in on some foam adhesive, just slightly askew from where I cut it so the cool green wood grain paper would peek through. I added some sparkle (ummm it is New Year's lol) with some Stickles.

Ohhh, and by the way...I accepted an offical DT member spot with the rock star creative ladies at the Clever Dexter Challenge. Be sure to check me out each month on the 23rd (happens to be my birthdate). Thanks for all of your support!

I'm also joining at the Colour Crazy Challenge.

Copic markers

Blue: B24, B28

Yellow: Y00, Y06, Y15

Purple: BV00, BV02, BV04

Green: G12, YG17, G46

Stickles: Yellow, Star Dust

xoxo Deidre

Tofurkey Love at the Clever Dexter Challenge

 Hi crafty friends! I'm guest designing over at the Clever Dexter Challenge blog and hosting a reminder post for the November challenge. I hope you squeeze in a little time to play along while enjoying your turkey, tofurkey, or any other goodies.

My card is made with a super duper cute digi stamp from our fab sponsor Oddball Stamps. His name is Ted the Sweetest Turkey and don't you agree he's perfectly named! I also added cloud digis from her digital stamp shop too named Patterned Clouds and Hearts.

I was of course inspired by the red, orange, and gourds for the challenge. Staying true to my Copic love with digi stamps, I used a ton of colors and I'm in love with the combos. 

Turkey: Y21, Y23, YR24

Feathers: E25, E27, E29

Pumpkins: YR02, YR04, YR09, E35

Stems: YG63, YG95, YG97

Blank cloud: E08, E09

Heart: R37, R59

Okay, moment of truth...I never plan my backgrounds in advance. I let the colors, focal points, and layout of my images talk to me :) This background is made with some cool copper and gold embossing powder and a Tim Holtz background stamp. You can check out the shine on my Instagram page!

P.S. - I'm a vegetarian, so this one is special to me :) Thank you Oddball Stamps!!

Our grand prize is drawn at random, so play along. You have the chance to win a $10 virtual gift card from Oddball Stamps.

Thanks for stopping by!

If you'd like to see more of my creations, pop into my blog or Instagram page!

Have a safe, healthy, and happy Tofurkey Day!

I'm also sharing at Colour Crazy Craft Challenge

:) Deidre

Gourds Galore and a VOTE Inspiration

I'm loving guest designing at the Clever Dexter Challenge! This month the cue is Gourds Galore and some great color options. I was provided a super cool digital stamp from Oddball Stamps and I hope you love my card :)

I was inspired by sooooo much; the colors of the pumpkins, the digi stamp, and even current events.

The digital stamp by Oddball Stamps is Bad Girl Carmen and I love it! If you have not tried out digis, they're amazing...seriously, for real :)

As you can see, I switched up the logo on her hoodie and gave her hair that is representative of an ethnic texture. There was a bunch of Copics used here:

Greens: YG00, YG01, YG06, YG23, YG67

Reds: R14, R29, R89

Oranges: YR02, YR07, YR18, Y28

Blues: B95, B97, B99

Grays: C1, C3, C5, C7, C9

Skin: E11, E13, E15, E17

Blush: R83

Hair: C5, C7, C9

For the background, I used some spray inks, stencils, embossing powder sprinkled on top of a metallic embossing paste, ink blending, and markers. I printed the quote and colored the strip of paper with the same Copics and adhered it to ground the card.

I really hope you misbehave a little and get crafty, inky, messy, and creative with us for the challenge this month. By the way, the awesome Oddball Stamps is sponsoring this month, so there's another chance to win!

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you in the gallery...you have all month :)

xoxo, Deidre

My Boo! Guest Designing for Clever Dexter Challenge

What's up everybody! I'm back to guest design on the Clever Dexter Challenge blog and bring you some coloring goodness thanks to our fab sponsor of the month: ODDBALL STAMPS. We're heading towards Halloween and I'm loving the spooky creations for this month's challenge! The theme is: HERE FOR THE BOOS and inspiration colors are: GREEN, PURPLE, ORANGE, WHITE, & BLACK.

For this card, I started with the Ms Ann Thrax digital stamp from Oddball Stamps. I had a little photo-editing software fun (flipped the image to look the opposite direction and added a bat to her headband). If you haven't followed my work before, I love to add an ethnic spin to images, so after it was printed and dried, I added the curls to her hair by hand using a Faber Castell pen. This lays the groundwork for some cute, dark, coily hair.

The next step is to pull out my Copic markers and get to work. I used a stack of purples, greens, grays, reds, and oranges for this image. If you're interested, the list of markers are at the end of this post.

 For the sentiments, I used another Oddball Stamp digital set called Creepy Cute Sentiments Banners and Badges. This set has a ton of awesome halloweeny options that you can customize! By the way, I grabbed the heart and bats from that set too :)

For my background, I used some embossing ink smooshed through the Dot Fade THS 006 stencil by Tim Holtz, and then coated it with orange embossing powder. Head over to my Instagram page for a close-up!

I hope you love Ms. Ann Thrax as much I as loved making this card! Please link up and play along for a chance to win a prize from Oddball Stamps. See ya!

I'm also joining at:

Colour Crazy Craft Challenge week 42

Shopping Our Stash #431

Inspired By...#147 fall is sweet

Copic colors:

Skin: E23, E25, E27

Eyeshadow, Jacket & Shoes: V04, V06, V09

Vest, Leggings, Tag: YG06, YG13, YG17, YG67

Skirt: YR02, YR04, YR07

Lipstick, Glasses, Eyeball, Heart: R24, R29, R89

Shirt, Hair, Bones: C1, C3, C5, C7, C9, 100

xoxo Deidre