Does this post make my butt look big?

Or maybe its just these cards!

I want to thank everyone who posted such lovely comments on my blog. I do hope you'll come back and visit me some time. Winners of the hop will be posted on Dustin's blog very soon now. While you're waiting, I have a couple more hippos to share with you. I will say that Dustin's dragons are my all time favorite of images, but these darling hippos have quickly found their way into at least the top three. If you're new to my blog, let me say that I am a devoted pencilist. Until very recently, Prismacolors held my heart, coming in as my number one coloring choice. All that changed when the hubs rocked Valentine's day this year. He gifted me with the complete set of Derwent Inktense pencils. I am in love! These darling hippos were done entirely with the Inktense pencils.

Derwent says about them "Pen and ink offers strong, intense colour combined with a translucent effect. Now you can enjoy these distinctive qualities in an easy to use pencil. Inktense has a highly blendable texture and comes in a range of 71 jewel-like colours, plus a non-soluble outliner which allows you to draw outlines that are permanent, even when water is applied. Apply pure, vibrant dry colour then wash the pigment out completely to leave an ink-like effect. Once dry, the colour is permanent and can be worked over with other media. The possibilities are endless, the results stunning." I say, "these pencils totally rock". Mine is a bit shorter than theirs, although, there's has a lot of good things to say about these awesome pencils.

I will say that the greatest impact comes when using a wet brush. The colors seem to leap off the page to give you a big vibrant kiss of color. That being said, these pencils are also amazing when used with Zest-It as I have done here. For someone who thought that 132 colors could not possibly be enough variety, I've been incredibly content with a mere 71 colors. Not that I wouldn't be opposed to a few extra colors here and there. I highly recommend giving these pencils a try. I got mine at Dick Blick, as they seem to have the best price around for the set. I paired them with a nice Global leather case made for 72 pencils. These pencils are chunkier than your standard prismacolors. While they do fit in the case, they are seriously snug for the first five or so uses of pulling the pencils in and out. After that the leather and elastic relax a bit and they're easier to get in and out.

A quick run down of supplies here. Obviously, Derwent Inktense pencils for the coloring. They done on my favorite Gina K. Pure Lux cardstock in base weight. I'm continuing to shop my stash for patterned paper and cardstock. The first card was done with the Citrus Die Cuts with a View stack, the other two are done with My Minds Eye Bloom and Grow collections. I believe both are from the Bloom side. Expect more stash shopping from me in months to come. I've got such a huge stash of papers that it seems silly to buy new! I'm learning to be frugal with my supplies for a change. Not to mention no local store to browse through!

Hip Hop to the Blog Trot!

Welcome Dustin Pike fans to our second blog hop. This is a party you will NOT want to miss.

If you aren't arriving from Jenn's blog, be sure and go back to the beginning so you don't miss anything.

 We are delighted to share with you some of the amazing images Dustin Pike, Illustrator of all DoodleDragon Studios designs. This day marks the anniversary of Dustin's 2 years on his blog and we, the DoodleDragon Crew want to show you some of the fabulous Blog-iversary images you can get for a fantastic price, offer is good for a limited time, so go look. Dustin is so generous with his images. If you are new with digital images you will be happy to hear that they are easy to use, store and print out. You can resize them and then print on your favorite paper. Dustin not only gives you Black and White images but sometimes even throws in the colored versions too. You can locate these images HERE, as well as many more. 200 images plus for ONLY $20.00 USD during the blog hop ONLY. See Blog Hop details below.


This is what I have created with a few of the images.

***If you purchase the Blog-iversary images BEFORE Saturday midnight (MTN TIME) you will receive over 200 digi's for $20.00. AND if you bought the April 7th release there is a 50% off code in the file that would make the blogiversary 10 bucks...Thru Saturday ONLY. After Saturday night they get split into sets and will be available at a different price. Don't wait, get in on the Blog-iversary NOW.

Hop Details:

Comment on EACH one of the stops along the way for 10 chances to win. Each one of the Design Team will be drawing a name and announcing a winner from our commenters. We will post the winners on Sunday April 24th and you will have till the following wednesday to email dustin with your name and shipping address for your prize delivery.

Every blog along the way has a special word. Collect the words on each blog to make a sentence and then at the end of the Hop email the sentence to Dustin_Pike@yahoo.com in order to be eligible for the prizes. What is the prize you ask? You will receive an original piece of artwork, hand drawn, colored and signed by Dustin Pike. In all your excitement don't forget to pickup YOUR Blov-iversary images at Doodledragonstudios.com. Blog Hop starts today and goes until midnight on Saturday, April 23rd, mountain time.

My special word is "DRAGON", as in Dudley Dragon is my favorite of all the DDS images!

Thanks for stopping by. Now hop on through to your next stop, Ri at Coconut Lounge Creations!

Lost? Miss someone along the way?  Check out everyone's blog:
Dustin http://dustinpike.blogspot.com
Jane http://janesboxofcolours.blogspot.com/
Ginny http://my5bratzcreations.blogspot.com/
Lelia http://greengoddescreations.blogspot.com/
Kerri http://bigsmilesfromkbear.blogspot.com/
Gramma http://grammascards.blogspot.com/
Charlotte http://designsfromwithin.blogspot.com/
Jennifer Dove http://just4funcrafts.blogspot.com
Veronica You're here!
Rikki http://coconutloungecreations.blogspot.com/

How Old???

If you've read my blog for any length of time, you know that I like pretty cards with very tongue in cheek sayings on the inside. This time, I went for a slightly different angle. I laid it all out right on the front of the card. These silly little “no evil” frogs caught my attention as soon as Dustin put them up for the March Membership. Why most No Evils keep their tongues in their mouth, mine come right out and say what they're thinking. They are shocked and amazed at the age of the card recipient. There are times when, of course, we should speak no evil and other times when we should let it all hang out and just tell it like it is.

For this card, I combined and reduced the three frogs so that they would fit comfortably on what turned out to be a 6” x 4” card. This won't fit a standard envelope, which is fine for me. I prefer to tuck my cards into the ribbon on a package or basket of goodies rather than hiding behind an envelope. If you want something more standard, you'll want to keep in mind the finished card size when you group the images and text.

So now it's up to you to tell it like it is, either nicely or with a bit of sass. Hop over to Dustin's blog and join in the Birthday Card challenge! It's his blogaversary month, so check his site regularly for fun new releases and exciting things this month.

Supplies this time once again came straight from my stash. I've come to the realization that I have too much stuff and it's time to use some of it up rather than buying new. The striped patterned paper is from a DCWV fall stack. The glitter and ribbon, courtesy of Really Reasonable Ribbon, add a bit of pretty to an otherwise sassy card. The image and scalloped mat were cut with Spellbinders Long Rectangles/Scalloped Long Rectangles Nestabilities dies.