Decosse's Dynamite Doodles

Well, in case you missed the big dark red box above.  I'm moving.

My blog that is.

As you will note from my mini rant above, there are just too many limitations with using the blog portion of this website.

Therefore I've set up shop on blogger. 

Thanks to all those who came, browsed, and commented.  I really appreciate your interest in my work.  I hope you come visit me in my new home and become a follower.  I'd love to have you around for the ride.

My website will still stay up and running and I'll continue to keep my image and nail galleries updated.

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The card I created for the 25th anniversary of the day my husband and I started going out was a success.  My husband really liked it.  Of course he forgot to get me a card this week (although he did at least remember what today was) and when he found out I'd made him one, he snuck out this evening while I was upstairs and headed to our local corner store (the only place to go on a Sunday after 6:00 p.m.).  Anyways, after a desperate plea to the cashier, he managed to locate one so he could exchange cards with me later in the evening.  He is such a turkeyhead but I still love him after all this time.

We had a nice meal out at a restaurant and spent the evening together.  He is now sleeping and I'm back at work on the computer.  I've spent the last two hours trying to find challenges to enter this card into.  Since I'm so new to entering challenges it is hard to know where to go.  I've been relying on the challenge lists that other bloggers have created so to all of out there that list the challenges you enter and provide a link to said challenge on your blog, I appreciate it.

I'm also still a little fuzzy on the 'no back linking' rule that most challenges have.  I get that you can't use a card you've posted a long time ago but what about a card that you may have posted and then found a suitable challenge a few days up to a week later?  Can you re-post that same card into a new post?  If the date the challenge starts comes before the date of your post, is that okay?  Help, anyone?????

Anyways, back to the card.  Here is the front.  Don't you just love those colours together?



































And here is the inside:



And here are the details.  I hope I haven't forgotten anything...

• Image of the key is from San's Designs.  It is coloured using Copic(R) markers: E31, E33, E37 and the colourless blender.  White was added in using a Recollections(R) Signature Special marker.
• Paper:  Basic brown cardstock from Dollarama(R); the brown and aqualike damask paper along with the single coloured aqualike patterned paper are both from the Recollections(R) Mosaic Memory paper pad; the dark brown  paper with glitter treatment I used as a silhouette is from the Recollections(R) Signature Special: Charming paper pad.
• I used the Cricut Paper Lace II cartridge to make the heart and heart silhouette on the front. I then used the silhouette as a template to help me cut out around the sentiment on the inside.
  
• Ribbon:  Dark brown satin ribbon used on the front is from Crafts(TM); gold ribbon inside the card is an Offray(TM) ribbon.
  

The card challenges I've entered into are:

• Just Keep On Creating -- Anything Goes Challenge #4
• Challenges For Everybody -- Anything Goes Challenge #5
• Crafty Sentiments Designs Challenge Blog -- Bows or Ribbons
• Through the Craftroom Door -- Anything Goes Challenge #40
• Make It Monday -- Anything Goes (always)
• The Squirrel and the Fox -- Challenge #29:  Use a Ribbon

Sometime during the next week I'll post the sentiment I created as a freebie.

Thanks so much for stopping by and don't forget to leave some love if you have the time.  The comment form doesn't have an individual place to put your website address (for those of you with your own blog) but I'd love to know where you came from.

Until next time,

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I've finished my first nail design for the fall season.  I call it 'Autumn Art'.  It is inspired by a design from 'Nail Polish Wars Blogspot' (sorry but I don't remember the website address because I wrote the idea down my nail book a few weeks ago). 



It is a pretty simple design.  I only had a couple of hours to complete it earlier tonight (well technically it is now yesterday since it is 2:30 am).  October 21st is the 25th anniversary of the day my husband and I started going out.  So, while I didn't have much time to do something special with my nails, I couldn't just leave them bare since we'll be going out for supper. 

Just divide each nail into three triangular shapes.  Paint each section a different fall colour (make sure you use a good base coat first).  In this design I've used a deep green, a beige and a rusty-copper tone.  After a couple coats of each colour so that they are solid looking, apply two coats of a gold flecked glitter to give it a bit of a sparkle.  Add two coats of a good topcoat and you are done.  And for a closer look:



I hope to add some of my previous designs to my nail gallery over the next couple months but I'll always post here as well to let you know when pics have been added.

Until next time,

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I am so excited.  I've actually had real people visiting my website.  Who'd have thought?  I actually didn't think anyone would ever find me and visit.  Given how many wonderful designers are already out there, I really never thought that anyone would want to become a follower.  But someone actually did--want to that is.  Unfortunately, it took some time to figure out how to add that feature to this site.  If I was using Blogger(TM) it would be easy.  However, Google(R) is no longer supporting the 'Friends Connect'(TM) aspect on outside websites and I've been trying to understand Google+(TM) but I think that costs money.  So for now I think that I'm going to have to do this the old fashioned way and create a mailing list.  This way, when I've created a new blog post, I can alert people who are interested in following my site.  I'll send out an email letting you know that a new post has been submitted and include a link to that post.  I'm sure there will be a few kinks to work out but I'm hopeful that this will work out.  I'd certainly love for you to join me on a regular basis.

Until my next post which will be an anniversary card on I'm working on...

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Hello everyone.  I'm about to enter a card into a challenge for the very first time.  Designed 2 Delight has begun to hold a 'free stamp of the month' challenge.  If you go over to the site before Oct 20 you should still be able to snag the current free image.  However, you only have until Oct. 19 at 11:59 p.m. to enter.  Everyone who enters the challenge and follows the rules is a winner because you automatically get the stamp for the next month's challenge. If you miss this month but would still like to participate in future months, you must buy the next stamp.  Stop by the site and check out the rules yourself.  While you are there, have a look around.  Their digital images are just so cute!  This is the card I'm entering.

I'm also thinking of entering it in a few other challenges but I need to do some research first to see who has open challenges with a Thanksgiving theme. 

That is it for now.  Until next time,

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Well, it took me over 4 hours to learn to post images to my blog.  Unfortunately, the 'adding images to the blog' option in Homestead is not a straight forward process.  The worst part is that I tried for 2 hours on my own one night and got absolutely nowhere.  So, the next afternoon I spent almost an hour trying to get someone to chat with online who was proficient in the subject matter at hand.  Another hour later she told me to do the same thing I did on my own.  However, when I did it with her standing by, it worked.  Don't you hate it when that happens?   So my first image was my 'blog signature'.  Not very ambitious but I had to start somewhere, right?

Today mind you, I'm taking a big step up as I will be posting my first ever sentiment freebie.  I'll keep my fingers crossed and hopefully this will work and you will be able to see and save the image if you would like it.

 This sentiment is a combination of Trebuchet MS and Scriptina Pro; both of which are available online for free download.  It was created for the inside of a Thanksgiving card that I am entering into two different challenges and afterwards I will be giving it to my parents when they come up to visit next week.  They've recently moved about six and a half hours drive southwest of where we live and it has been a difficult transition for me.  You see, I'm an only child and my parents moved to be closer to us almost 20 years ago.  They needed a change and a better apartment complex to live in now that they are getting older and the closest suitable location is in London, ON.  They've been gone since the end of August and I really miss them.  But I digress...

 I'm also including a black and white version in case you would prefer that.

 I haven't come up with my policy for using images yet.  So for now, suffice it to say that if you save/use one of my images:

• Do not claim the image as your own.
• Credit 'Decosse's Dynamite Doodles' somewhere on your card in print big enough to actually read. 
• Please do not share my images.  Instead direct people to my blog and they can grab the image for themselves.
• If I have signed an image, please do not delete my signature.
• Please leave a comment on my blog.  It will help to inspire me to continue to offer future freebies.

Thanks for your cooperation and I hope you get some use from this sentiment.

Until next post,

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Welcome to my blog!  As stated above I'm brand new at this.  Since I've never done anything like this before, your constructive feedback is most definitely welcome.

I'm not exactly sure how often new posts will appear, or for that matter, what they will be about.  For all I know, I'll probably be the only one visiting this site on a regular basis.  Well, maybe my mom will show up once and awhile and I might be able to convince a few friends to drop by on occasion.  However, I don't anticipate an influx of visitors, so if you are here, I am so very happy you came.  As I mentioned in my profile, right now the main purpose of this blog is to allow myself an online place to keep card images I've created that I want to submit to challenges. 

As for what I will be posting, sometimes it might just be a new card that I've created (or a link to it until I figure out how to use the blog element of this website).  Other times I might direct you to an event going on elsewhere.  I do know that I'll definitely send you to some of my favourite sites when they do something special.

Well I guess that is it for my first post.  Wish me luck!

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