Happy first 39th Birthday Suzanne!

Do you know this beautiful person????

Oh wait... ooops...wrong one.   Sorry.  Do you know THIS beautiful person????

Arrrrghhhh... that's NOT her!!!!  Wait wait... let's get this right!!!!  Do you know HER?????

THAT'S her!!!!!!! YES!!!  The BIRTHDAY GIRL!!!!!  Oh and honestly... yeah... those pics above... yep... those REALLY are her too!!! If you know Suzanne J. Dean... you KNOW this!!  

Today is Suzanne's birthday and well, we ALL KNOW, Suzanne would NOT want to celebrate a birthday any other way than with her favorite country star AND a favorite sports star!!!  Right???!!!  

And also today, Suzanne's, Color Me Creative Design Team wanted to take a little of her time to show her how much we enjoy, appreciate and love her by hopping along to share a little birthday fun and creativity with her.  Join us in wishing her that the next year is filled with even more memories and love than anyone could ever hope for!  

The design team went with a "Teal/Aqua" theme today.  Suzanne had mentioned her desire to "look like a mermaid"... LOL... so heck, we'll play along.  (Old age is old age, peeps... just smile and say... "that's nice, honey." LOL)

Tina said this is the spot in the post where we are to share personal feelings and emotions on what Suzanne means to us. Well she's alright I guess. Kinda clumsy and prone to weird situations. The saying 'accident waiting to happen' would apply. Which makes us twins lmbo!!!! I LOVE AND ADORE that girl. Like seriously love but not in a weird stalkerish kinda way. She said she'd tell me when I got to that point. We are 2 peas in a pod when it comes to the bizarre happening to us on a daily basis. Personally I was so relieved to meet someone else who felt like perhaps their life was actually a Reality Show- like that Jim Carrey Movie 'The Truman Show'. What I really love and admire is how she sees it all with a laugh and an appreciation of finding the humour in situations. She is a fantastic storyteller and one of my fave people to room with overnight. We talk and laugh till we fall asleep. Actually till I fall asleep then try to answer her while sleeping. Sorry about that bad advice girl! I am so grateful for this craft that has allowed me to meet so many amazing people and brought Suzanne into my cherished circle of friends. 

I am sharing 2 creations that are 'Suzanne' to me. The top card features an image I coloured during my first Suzanne class and I was IN LOVE with how it turned out! I struggle so much when colouring hair and I really felt like I had done a great job capturing the multi-hued shine in this sweet girl's hair. Plus the card has lots of flowers so that is a 'Suzanne-ish' card to me. 

The tag I am sharing because Suzanne and I bought this stamp at the same time and bet each other who would use it first. We both thought she would be the clear winner and she even declared winner when she posted hers. That made it even more awesome when I got to share that actually...slow poke Andi used it first lmbo!!! Now we are on for our next challenge and Suzanne has picked out the stamp. I have a feeling I may not be successful this go around. Hmmm...since she volunteered to pick it out and mail me mine....what's stopping her from making her card BEFORE she even sends me mine??? KIDDING SUZANNE!! Hahahaha- that's something I'd do ;)

Okay, time for me to stop yimmer yammering. Now hop along with us to enjoy more of the Design Team's creations for Suzanne.

 

Tina Gilliland

Brook Guinn

Anary Baumgarth (guest DT)

Melanie LaBelle

Marie Gamber

Pat St. Martin

Jenn Cochran

Michele Spera

Andi Murdock (Your Here)

Shelby Goolsby

Marti Wills

 Linda Payne

Julie Price

Karen Gauthier

Shannon Kromeke

Kim DeRuosi

Thanks for sharing Suzanne's day with us!!  We KNOW you all love her as much as we do and we couldn't be happier to be working with such an awesome lady!! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUZANNE!!!!!

*HUGS*

Color Me Creative Turns 3!

Happy Friday and Happy 3rd birthday to Color Me Creative! To celebrate we are kicking things off with a hop! If you are already hopping along you would have arrived here from Shannon's blog. 

Color Me Creative (CMC) is the online coloring resource site of one of my close friends Suzanne Dean. She had a BRILLIANT idea when she came up with the idea to not only have a place to learn but to meet and interact with other crafting enthusiasts. It is such a fun place to hang out online. 

Saturated Canary is helping us kick off the birthday bash. Click here to go to the Saturated Canary blog  and see more amazing images like the ones you will be seeing today. On my card I used Nevaeh- she was a 'I must own her' image as soon as I saw her!

I used the following copics: E0000, E000, E00, E11, R20, R01, YR12, YR14, YR16, YR18, E23, E25, E27, E29, BG10, B32, B34, B36, W1, W3, W5, C3, C5, C7, C9. 

I also used a white sharpie paint pen to add some detail. Suzanne got me addicted to those hee hee!!

We will be celebrating with lots of fun activities over the next few days and Suzanne is also having a BOGO sale on the online copic classes she offers! Click here to go to the CMC site and if you haven't joined yet now is a great time...and it's free to be a member!!

Okay, I need to stop yakking and let you get on your way. Next up on the hop is Michele and while you are hopping along don't forget to leave a comment at each stop of the way for your chance to win one of two craft gift certificates!! 

Happy Crafting!!

Andi

Merry Christmas Suzanne!

Hello everyone and welcome to a special blog hop for a very special lady.... Suzanne Dean. Today the Design Team from Suzanne's site, Color Me Creative, are hopping along to give our friend and "fearless leader" a HUGE HUG and Thanks!!!  

If you've ever met Suzanne, you know 1) what a HUGE heart she has and 2) how fun, witty and TALENTED she is!!  Suzanne's site has tons of information and inspiration and WE get to help spread the word about her awesome classes by way of her bi-weekly challenges sponsored by some fabulous crafty companies!  This month Suzanne is having a month full of challenges where you can win some wonderful prizes and have some fun along the way, but we wanted to take time to thank Suzanne for all her hard work and dedication for not only us but for all the members on her site and those who are lucky enough to have attended her classes where she shares her talent and coloring tips with us all.  

Suzanne is not only a pleasure to work for, but a wonderful friend with a big love for zebras!! That's right... today we are sharing our "zeebie" (as she calls them) designs dedicated to a wonderful lady who we simply say, "Thanks".  We hope you enjoy the hop and remember, the Holiday Bash at CMC is under way and you don't want to miss our on all the fun excitement and awesome prizes so be sure to stop in and enjoy the holiday spirit with us all.  You can find all the information you need HERE.

It is kind of funny that this hop is Zebra themed in honor of Suzanne as I made her a 'Zebbie' card for her birthday. So due to December craziness I am re-sharing this awesomesauce card! I do really love this card- I can so see Suzanne rocking the feathers with the Zebbie pants at CHA 2035 or maybe she will be into bingo by then hee hee! 

I also had to share the photo below that was taken of her and I last month when we got to spend a day hanging out in St. Jacobs ON. We had a freakin' BLAST! We seriously laughed so hard in one store we were bent over scream-laughing. Over cards. Yep. So of course we bought a ton of cards each. Pretty funny since we are both cardmakers hee hee! I think we spent about $45 each on those cards. Let's just say those cards were not very PC but oooooh so funny! We also got to visit The Scrapping Turtle. I had no idea it was there and practically freaked out on the poor girl working at how happy I was to be there! We had her take a picture of us and Suzanne said let's get one beside that thing. SOOO I am looking at it from behind and say- 'Should we pretend to kiss the squirrel?' And Suzanne is very confused and asks 'what squirrel are you talking about?'. I sigh and point to the one hanging between us- 'This one OBVIOUSLY Suzanne'. I mean really- which one did she think? To which Suzanne replied while the lady working laughed her butt off 'You mean the TURTLE Andi... the TURTLE on the swing? Because of the store name..The Scrapping TURTLE?'. 

Yep that's the squirrel I meant hee hee

I may need better glasses..or to wear them

whatever ;P

She was laughing too hard to kiss the 'squirrel' after that hee hee

Never a dull moment when we are together Suzanne- just glad we didn't get arrested.

I kinda love that girl.

Okay, enough rambling by me. Time to enjoy the rest of the hop. Thank you for all you do for us and for helping so many of us love and learn more about our beloved markers. 

Tina Gilliland 

Anary Baumgarth

Andrea Murdock (You're here!!)

Brook Guinn

Jenn Cochran

Marie Gamber

Michele Speara

Patricia St. Martin

Shelby Goolsby

Cheers! Andi

CMC Huge Holiday Bash!

Suzanne is having a huge party and her DT are helping her spread the word! If you are already hopping along you would have arrived here from Linda's blog. You can also click here to go right to the party main page and join in on the fun! If you are new to the Color Me Creative Classroom it is absolutely free to join and chock full of resources and amazing fellow crafters. 

Starting December 7th the CMC Classroom will have its annual month-long Holiday Bash Celebration! Nothing more fun then having some fun challenges, games and prizes to start the season off right!? I hope you will find time to stop in and look around, join in and just have some fun. The Holiday Bash is really my way of THANKING ALL OF YOU for your continued support, friendship and patronage to the Classroom. So a lot of fun and a way to WIN SOME HUGE prizes from our sponsor!

Details:

*Starts Dec. 7th with a Holiday Blog Hop featuring projects by the CMC DT to kick off the month-long CMC Challenge!! And another way for you to win if you hop along!

*Every week will be a NEW Challenge and Prize...think scavenger hunts, puzzles, games!

*Charity Raffle - Suzanne is giving away a NEW Silhouette Cameo machine to a lucky someone! How can you win it? Every time you participate in a challenge during the month you get an entry for it. Also for every $3 you donate to the Charity (TBA) you get an entry. Every year Suzanne picks a different Charity to help...so far we've raised $3200 over the years..and to Suzanne the season is all about GIVING so that's why she always include this! It is also why I am so honoured to be a part of this special and fun time!

Okay- time to go to the next person on today's hop. Head on over to Karen's blog and see her lovely Metallic inspired creation!

Cheers, Andrea

Color Me Creative Blog hop with Saturated Canary!

Welcome to a special Color Me Creative Challenge Blog Hop!

 The Design Team has put together some fabulous creations using Saturated Canary’s  digital images to kick-start the CMC Summer Sale! 

Starting May 25th thru August 24th all CMC Classes will be on sale and bundled classes will be on special too...see the CMC Classroom for more details! It’s a fabulous time to take advantage of classes and once you sign up you get a full year in each of the classes you register for...but you can also buy them now and SAVE them to start this fall...you 1 year term does not start until you sign into a class.

We hope you hop along with the CMC DT today to see all the fabulous creations and be inspired! If you leave comments along the way on the DT blogs you will be entered to win some fabulous prizes including a Free CMC Copic Online Class, a $20 Gift Certificate to SCACD and a $20 Gift Certificate to 7 Kids College Fund! We hope you enjoy the hop and thank you for joining us today. Be sure to stop over and check out all the classes offered at CMC! 

If you are already hopping along you would have arrived from Suzanne's blog. Here is my creation for the hop:

I received the gorgeous Whispy image and I am head over heels in love with her sweetness. I used the colour combo of pink and green and of course she needed beautiful red hair to set off her outfit! I kept my card design simple to keep the focus on the image. I did use the current sketch at Jen Delmuro's blog- I {heart} to stamp. Thanks for the sketch inspiration Jen! My finishing touch was to add lots and lots of glitter. I seriously couldn't stop ha ha!! 

Now for more Saturated Canary inspiration hop on over to Shelby's blog to see what she has created today!

Happy Hopping!! Andi

CMC current challenge - Anything goes!

The current challenge over at the CMC challenge group is 'Anything goes!'. How fun and easy is that! And our sponsor is the oh so cool 'Some Odd Girl' stamps so you can win some whimsical stamps just for doing anything you want on your card. Well you do have to colour with alcohol based markers but other than that it is pretty open. Click here to read all the deets and see the amazing samples by the DT for inspiration. These ladies are so talented!

My card today is actually featuring a much loved image that I coloured with Suzanne's tutelage. I love love love how she turned out! Suzanne loves to push me out of my comfort zone and try different things with my markers. So fun! I made this card bright and cheery just like Suzanne. Not that I am sending it to her- forget that! It is going in my sample book hee hee!!!

Are you like me and love to colour images but forget to use them on your creations? Why not dig them out and use them like I did today! Now you have a full card to show off hee hee!

Cheers, Andrea

CMC- Love this stamp from Spesch Images!

Spesch stamps sponsored a challenge over at the Color Me Creative website and we got to choose an image to play with. I chose this cute called Loves me Not in the Stamps by Sylvia category. 

I coloured her up with my copics (of course) and tried a few different colour combos before this one turned out the best. It was actually a combo given by a fellow DT member and I am so grateful she shared it cause it is perfect! Sadly...I didn't write it down. Doh!!!! I will have to fiddle around with my copics till I remember which ones it was. Sigh! I always think- 'that's brilliant- I will remember that'...and I don't. Yet I fool myself time and time again hee hee. 

I will be posting another card tomorrow for the current CMC challenge which is anything goes! So basically anything you colour with alcohol based markers is good to go! Click here to check out the deets on how to share your creation with us! 

Cheers, Andi

Color Me Creative DT wants to wish Suzanne Dean a Happy Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUZANNE!!!

SURPRISE!!

The Color Me Creative Design Team has a secret!!!  Today we are hopping along to wish our fearless leader, Suzanne Dean, a VERY happy birthday!!!  Suzanne is the owner/creator of the Color Me Creative site and, as many of you know, teaches her Copic classes online and on the road!  She is one busy momma and we thought we'd take time to wish her a happy day and hope she gets to sit with her Cherry Coke and donuts (ya, a fav combination of hers!) and relax a bit today and enjoy the hop!

Each of us decided it would be fun to remember Suzanne today in "typical Suzanne" style!  Our creations will either help remember a "funny travel moment" with Suzanne or... share a secret about Suzanne.  Ha!!!  Bet she didn't see this coming!!! LOL 

Here is what I created today....

My card for this special hop features an image we received from a challenge sponsor- I brake for Stamps- from their humorous seniors line. They are hilarious! And some are a bit scary tee hee. I chose this image because Suzanne loves Zebras and these pants are hilarious! Also because Suzanne is full of life and fun just like this ole gal. I did NOT choose this image to tell Suzanne that she is getting old..no way! The main reason being is that she is a few years younger than me so there is no way I would tell her she is getting old..cause this girl sure isn't lol! I also added lots of bling because she sparkles too. 

I met Suzanne 'online' on a DT before I met her in person. And both ways confirmed my overall impression- she rocks. Yep- totally. We met in person for the first time at CHA a few years back and immediately bonded over the fact we had daughters around the same age that were going through interesting mood swings. And we were scared together hee hee. I think we were hugging and crying within minutes of swapping teen hormone war stories. **Edited to add that of course our girls are absolute sweethearts now. Especially if they are reading this ;) **

One of the biggest things I admire about Suzanne is how she knows how to live life to the fullest! Rarely..and I mean rarely does a week go by where she isn't travelling somewhere! It doesn't even phase me anymore when she says she is jetting off to somewhere awesome. I have even stopped asking for a present each time! Last year she  even came to my neck of the woods and I joined her and some mutual friends for dinner at a small town restaurant. The night was spent laughing non stop! We may not be allowed back to that same place after the ruckus we caused hee hee! Suzanne has a dry quick wit that keeps me in stitches. In fact I laughed so much that night I was sweating. Seriously! She laughed at me...I laughed at her...and we both laughed at Sheila (our friend who may or may not have been drinking). Even with all the challenges life has given Suzanne she demonstrates how to pick yourself up and move forward and embrace the adventure to the fullest. She is not only a hilarious fun person but also an amazing motivational speaker. Attend one of her classes and you know exactly what I am talking about. She really is one in a million. Which honestly- Thank God for that because that girl has the most bizarre things happen to one person on every one of her trips lol!!!! 

Okay, enough from me. Love you Suzanne and HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 

Now hop on over to the rest of the DT's sites to see what they are sharing about Suzanne.  ;-)

Tina Gilliland

Brook Guinn

Anary Baumgarth

Melanie LaBelle

Marie Gamber

Ruby McGuire

Pat St. Martin

Jenn Cochran

Michele Spera

Sandie Dunne

Dana Joy

Steph Lee

Suzanne Foard

Andi Murdock (Me!)

Shelby Goolsby

Renkata Pacheva

Color Me Creative- Tiffany Doodles has us seeing Yellow

The current challenge over at Color Me Creative is to use your favourite yellow copic combos. Tiffany Doodles is our sponsor and gave all of us on the design team some fun digi's to play with. Thank you! I used Sweet Butterfly and I loved that it came with 2 butterflies and a sentiment. 

My fave combo for yellow is fairly basic- Y32, 35, 38. I do add darker yellows at time when using this combo but usually just those 3 colours give me what I am looking for. 

I paired my sweet image with one of my MME 6x6 packs and some of the matching embellishments that I totally had to purchase at the same time when I saw them. I do love matchy matchy stuff at times hee hee. I even bought the matching stickers which provided me with the grey panel saying 'today and forever' popped up nicely. I have to say that the card looks even better in person. I had so much fun playing along with this challenge!

To create this card I used a sketch from my friend Jen Shultz's challenge blog- The Deconstructed sketch. It is actually lasts week's sketch but I just loved it and it worked perfectly. She has a new sketch every week! This sketch challenged girl loves her so much for that hee hee. I have already book marked this week's sketch to use this weekend. 

I have also entered my card into the following challenges:

Paper crafting journey- use 3 or more patterned papers

By the cute and girly- Once upon a time (inspired by Nursery Rhyme Butterfly Butterfly)

Oozak- Anything goes

I hope you take some time to grab your fave yellow copic combos and come play along with us at CMC challenge group. There are so many beautifully entries already and we would love to see more!

Color Me Creative Blog Hop- We are turning 2!!

This week the Color Me Creative Classroom is celebrating its 2nd Birthday and we are celebrating in a BIG WAY with a week long bash!  There will be fun challenges, games and some awesome prizes to win and EVERYONE is welcome to join in on the fun! 

Grand Prize this year will be a NEW SIZZIX VAGABOND!!

Everyday there will be a new game/challenge that you can participate in for a chance at some great prizes!  Head over the CMC Classroom and find out more details---the Birthday Bash info can be found in the GROUPS tab, just click on the Birthday Bash Group to join in!

And today the CMC Challenge DT has a fun Birthday Themed Blog Hop to kick off all the fun! 

Make sure to hop along and leave a comment on each DT blog, two lucky commenters (picked at random) will each win a $20 Gift Certificate to a crafty online store!!  So have fun and party, party, party!!

I am so excited to be playing along and celebrating with Suzanne as her amazing online class site turns 2 years old! Not only are there amazing classes you can choose to take but there are also so many fun groups you can join and share your crafty knowledge and creations. I made my birthday card with a fun The Greeting Farm image and some Bo Bunny sweet paper. I had a number die set from MFT and I used it to make my number 2 to help personalize my card for Suzanne's par-tay! I hope you are having fun hopping along and leaving comments on every DT members blog so that you can have a chance to win one of the 2 prizes. You will have arrived here from Melanie's blog if you are hopping along and after you leave my bloggy please jump on over to Michele's blog and her fantabulous creation! To see the full blog list or to start at the beginning please click on the CMC name above to be taken directly to the site. 

Playing with Hero Arts and Color Me Creative

I love this card. Love it. The fact that I made it is just a bonus. Loooooovvvee it. Might have something to do with my addiction to hot drinks and donuts. 

I wanted something fun and funky for my 3rd contribution for Color Me Creative DT posts and when this Hero Arts set hit SGD I had visions of sugar plums dancing in my head. Actually it was double chocolate donuts, jelly donuts, French crullers and my fave chocolate walnut crunches dancing in my head hee hee!

So with this 'Have a Donut' set in my hands I stamped the images in Memento tuxedo black to get them ready for my copics. I then used the following copic colours to keep it simple:

R-24, 27, 29, 39

E-23, 25, 27, 29, 33, 35, 50

WG-3

I used my scor-buddy to add dimension to my white card by scoring just around the inside of the card. I have been seeing this more and more on cards especially with the resurgence lately of the clean and simple card style which I am trying to do along with my over the top cards I still love doing lol. 

If you are unfamiliar with the CMC (Color Me Creative) site I talk about click here to be introduced to a colorers dream haven! We have tons of online courses for you to take and lots of fun amazing like minded crafters who love to chat it up and give each other suggestions and support. Come and join us!!

Cheers, Andi 

Things are looking frosty over at the Color Me Creative challenge group!

Brrr...Baby it's cold outside. 

Our Boss Lady Suzanne challenged us to make cold and frosty cards using some ca-ute Lily of the Valley images. Well that says silver, grey and blue to me! I dug out some of this season's winter paper by Echo Park called Winter Park. To get my frosty snowflake trim under my image I used the Tim Holtz die 'Snow Flurries on the Edge' and some clear packing I had saved. I actually made a quick picture tutorial that I will share in another post. 

Lily of the Valley gave us some amazing images to work with- thank you!!! I was already in love with their whimsical images and this cutie sealed the deal. He is called 'Ski Jump' and has seriously inspired this girl on a mad LOTV shopping spree!!

Did you know that there are cool prizes for playing along with us at CMC? This challenge's prize is from Lily of the Valley!!!! I wish I could enter!! There is still a few days to play along with us and we would love to have some more entries! Click here to visit us and read the full challenge deets!