Stamping to de-stress

Project Life

2011-01-02T10:02:00.003-06:00

A new year, and a new beginning with this blog. I am hoping to transition it soon to my own domain that will allow me to post photos, reviews, stamping projects and other craft projects all in one place.

For now, this will have to do.

I have decided to participate in project life this year.

I am just now starting to get into scrapbooking, and plan to continue to document some moments with stamps, embellishments and "fancy" pages, but project life is a way to document the "regular" events and be able to look back on what this year was to me and to Deron.

This photo is not yet in the project life book, but it is the first photo of the book.

To me this is typically Deron. Steve said he had finally found his peer group, but I think it's just that he likes to have fun, and help out. He arranged the pieces for them, let them take turns in turning the crank, and laughed along with them when things didn't work out. I love watching him with kids.

Flippin' Blog Candy

2010-03-02T20:45:00.003-06:00

I found Jak Heath's amazing blog on the Waltzingmouse blog hop, and I happened upon this amazing blog candy Jak is offering up.

Here is just a sample of the stamps she is offering.

I absolutely love these stamps by La Pashe and would encourage you to check them out. And enter the blog candy give away!

Waltzingmouse Blog Hop

2010-02-22T02:00:00.000-06:00

I am *super* excited to be participating in the first customer blog hop for Waltzing Mouse Stamps. Claire is such a sweet person, and I am so happy she has found success in her business. Her templates are innovative, and her stamps are a great mix of modern and vintage. I am particularly fond of her "nestie friendly" stamp sets.

To make sure you don't miss any of the amazing projects, make sure you start at the Waltzing Mouse Blog. This is also where to go to see the full list of participants if you get lost along the way.

I had hoped to have a great new card ready for this blog hop, but I had such a terrible back ache that I spent most of the day laying on my floor and was not up to sitting at my craft table.

This is a tag I made around Christmas time when I was trying to complete Tim Holtz's 12 tags of Christmas. I didn't post this to my blog because I didn't get them all completed, but I *really* wanted to be part of Claire's blog hop, so it's now time to show this tag.

My tag is inspired by Tim's first tag (found here).

The rest of the information about the tag is below, and I would encourage you to read all the way through for a nice surprise, but if you are in a hurry, you can hop right on to the next stop JOAN!!

My tags are smaller than Tim's, and I don't have all of his products, so I have had to improvise. I used the snowman from the sewing box Christmas set in versamark, after I had painted a tag with picket fence crackle paint. then I embossed it in black ink to really make it pop.

I loved Tim's idea of making my own wire ribbon for the snowman's scarf.

I didn't have any rock candy crackle medium, so I used Crackle Accents for my tag. I squeezed lots on, then used a paint brush to spread it around.

I printed the tags out using my dymo label maker, and attached it with my mini stapler. I loved getting coloured staples at the dollar store, and being able to match them to my project.

And now, for reading to the end, I have a *special prize* to award. Because I LOVE Claire's stamps so much, I am offering to personally purchase one set (of the winner's choice) to be delivered directly to your door. In order to be entered in the draw, please leave a comment on this post that tells me your favourite colour combination. I am looking forward to reading all of your unique combinations, and will choose my favourite to make a card next week. This contest will close at noon (CST) on Wednesday, February 24.

Amazing Magnolia Blog Candy

2010-01-12T07:28:00.001-06:00

Jodi has some amazing Magnolia blog candy HERE. stop by and check it out.

Unity Friends with Flair Friday!

2010-01-08T07:32:00.004-06:00

I am back after a month long hiatus (which included lots of holiday festivities and travel) to bring you a card from Unity as part of the Friends with Flair blog hop.

If you just stumbled upon my blog, go to the Unity Blog to see the list of all of the FWF participants. One of the participants will have a blinkie on their blog and they will be giving away 25 random stamps to someone who comments.

My card uses the amazing set Eco Chic.

When I was stamping this I thought that I would colour the tree and/or the earth so I stamped them both in Timber Brown Stazon (the earth was stamped off once), but as I was putting the card together I really liked the look of the neutral, almost monochrome card with a pop of red. This card was really easy to put together, and I really like how it turned out.

Make sure you visit all of the blogs on the FWF list so you have a chance to win the free stamps, but feel free to leave comments here too :)

Bella Blog Hop!

2009-12-05T08:00:00.000-06:00

Welcome to the Bella Birthday Bash Blop Hop sponsored by Stamping Bella! If you've just happened upon my blog, you can CLICK HERE to start from the beginning at Bloggabella.

I decided to make an ornament with my wreathabella stamp. Sorry about the photo, but it was really hard to get a good photo of a glass ornament with acetate in the middle ;)

First, I stamped the image on acetate using palette ink, then I flipped it over and coloured the image with sharpies. Copics would work, but I don't have any, and sharpies work too. any permanent marker that will work on non-porous surfaces would be okay.

I punched a hole in the acetate, threaded it with ribbon and used that instead of the metal hanger that comes with the ornament.

Before putting the top back on, I added some faux snow to fill out the glass globe a bit more.

I hope you enjoyed this ornament, and that you will give it a try. If there are any questions, please leave me a comment and I will try to answer them for you.

Three gift certificates for $100 in Bella Bucks will be hidden along the hop, but we’re not telling you where so be sure to leave some love as you hop!!! Make sure you leave comments on every post so you have a chance to win!! The winners will be announced on Monday, December 7 at the Stamping Bella Blog. MWAH!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Now it's time to hop on over to Brandi - Sparkle Shimmer and Twinkle.

December Daily

2009-12-02T09:01:00.002-06:00

For the past few years, Ali Edwards has been creating her December Daily albums as a way to keep track of everyday events around the holidays. Here is her 2008 album.

This year I decided to join in.

I don't have my first page ready yet, but I wanted to let you know that if you are participating, it doesn't have to be a huge holiday event that you document every day. yesterday, December 1, was our first real snowfall of the season, so I am going to write about that, and Deron took a photo of the snow on our fence, so that is the picture I am going to use.

Candy Candy Everywhere!

2009-09-26T11:57:00.004-06:00

Disclaimer: I lost my camera a couple of months ago, and am borrowing one that I don't know how to use as well, so my photos are blurry and not as good as I would like.

This week's challenge from Lauren is to use one of the my timeless templates to create a package for candy.

I decided to use the Milk Made template (small version) to package up some Jelly Bellies. A couple of weeks ago, Deron and I took a road trip to Chicago, and on the way, we stopped at a Jelly Belly warehouse

We bought 3 bags of Belly Flops that we had planned to repackage and give as gifts to friends.

Here is what I made.

I used kraft cardstock and stamped the images from Little Pieces (SU) in bright colours.

Then I used stickles and liquid pearls to add some dimension to the box.

I love the people that can make very elaborate and multi layered cards and gifts, but that is just not me. I like the quick and simple projects that can easily be re-produced. This fits in that category.

Please visit the rest of the design team, and play along with our candy gift box challenge.

Lauren
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

Fall colour challenge

2009-09-19T07:37:00.002-06:00

I have a card done for this week's colour challenge, but I haven't had time to photograph it in natural light, and now we are off to visit Deron's parents in Moose Jaw (yes, that is a real city) for the day, so my card will be up probably tomorrow.

Please check out what everyone else did with this challenge!

Lauren
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

Simple flowers

2009-09-12T00:01:00.001-06:00

A super quick post for me as I am actually almost 2000km from home. Deron and I are on a road trip from our home in Regina, SK to Chicago, IL. We are going to see the U2 concert, and visit a friend from University that is a lawyer in Chicago. I made this card before I left, and am just now uploading it from the road.

This is how I got inspired from the photo below.

Please join in and play along. You don't have to use the colours in the photo, just be inspired by the shapes, colours, design element, texture, anything.

Visit the rest of the team to see how they interpreted this image.

Lauren
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

scrappy sketch

2009-09-04T23:24:00.004-06:00

It's a Saturday sketch challenge! I made a scrapbook page using this sketch as the inspiration, but I am having camera issues and will have to post the photo in the morning. Update - I was able to finally get the photos to upload to my computer, but they aren't as good as I had hoped.

This is a photo of my sister and her husband in Rome at the coliseum. I distressed the page to give it an aged feel to compliment the coliseum.

The Rome is chipboard covered in white craft ink, then 3 layers of glassy glaze to make the letters look really shinny and stand out against the distressed background.

For now, please try out the sketch yourselves, and make sure you go to Lauren's blog to add your creation to Mr. Linky on her blog.

Also, be sure to check out the rest of the team's creations.

Lauren
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

Butterflies Flutter By

2009-08-14T22:00:00.001-06:00

Welcome to another My Time Colour Challenge.

This week I got my sister to play along as well!! She has spent the past year in England, and just recently got back to Canada and is staying with me for about a month before her wedding.

This is the colour image we were given

and Heather (my sister) and I also added butterflies to our projects in addition to the colours.

Heather made a welcome card for her future mother-in-law who is coming from New Zealand for the wedding.

The background is stamped using Shapes by Design with Barely Banana ink on Barely Banana cardstock. The butterfly is from Unity, but is discontinued. It was stamped in versamark, then heat embossed with silver powder.

The sentiment is stamped and clear embossed, then punched out with the word window punch.

My card also has a butterfly, but the focus is the Dream Tree Background from Unity.

I stamped it on glossy cardstock in versamark, then heat embossed it with clear powder. I sponged, and rubbed ink (Barely Banana, Rose Red, Lavender Lace, and Cool Carribean) across the background randomly to make the tree pop.

The butterfly is a tiny one, also from Unity, that was stamped on velum, then embossed with glittery EP.

Please leave some love and let my sister know that her card is cute, and since it's only about the 10th card she has ever made she shouldn't expect to be perfect!

Also, visit the rest of the My Time Team, and be sure to visit Lauren's blog to see who she has highlighted this week.

Lauren
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

Colourful Background!

2009-08-07T22:18:00.002-06:00

This inspiration challenge image was *perfect* for me because I worked on my project just a couple of days after reading this post from the fabulous Michelle Wooderson.

I chose to use the variety of colours and patterns as a jumping off point to create this card that was also inspired by Mish's post.

I used 4 different backgrounds from CHF and stamped a full card front of each, then cut them apart to create this card.

The sentiment is from the Mona Lisa Moments Motivational Centres set. It was stamped in white ink, and embossed with white ep. I added the dots and doodles with markers in the same colours of the backgrounds to tie it in.

I also added the ribbon, and brad to tie the colours of the backgrounds together in one card.

Please visit the rest of the My Time Design Team, and leave them some love.

Also, we are starting something new, and Lauren will be featuring some of the participants on her blog, so please play along!

Lauren
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

Adventure Basket

2009-07-24T19:29:00.007-06:00

I love the weeks when Lauren's My Time design team has template challenges. It's such a great excuse to use one of the amazing templates that Lauren has designed for PTI. They are super easy to use, and always make amazing projects.

This is what I came up with using the mini version of the Pack a Picnic template. Lauren provided us all with this image, and although I didn't use all of the colours in the image, I did gain inspiration from it. The woven placemat provided the inspiration for me to weave the basket.

If you want to join us this week, the lovely Pam is hosting, and Mr. Linky will be on her blog.

I used cream, soft sky, and river rock as my colours, but did not use any grey at all in my project.

I printed the template on both cream and river rock cardstock, then cut both templates into 1/2 inch strips.

It was a very time consuming process, but I am really happy with the end result.

Unfortunately, I was so focused on the weaving, that as I folded the top flap down, I did it backwards, and my score lines ended up on the outside of my basket.

In order to mask my error I covered the edges with White Opal liquid pearls.

The river rock edge was cut with decorative scissors, and the sky blue piece was also trimmed then added under the edge to create another layer. I really like the pop of colour it adds.

The medallion was created using my new Labels dies from spellbinders, and stamped with a pre-inked stamp from JustRite that I got from the dollar spot before they were sold out.

The foam flower is from American Crafts, and has a liquid pearl centre the same as the edges of the basket.

Take a look at these amazing peeks provided by the rest of the design team, and leave them some love as you visit their blogs.

If you want to join us this week, the lovely Pam is hosting, and Mr. Linky will be on her blog.

Lauren
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

Christmas in July

2009-07-19T18:15:00.006-06:00

The 3 Clovers Thursday Challenge on Kerry's amazing blog last week was Christmas in July. This gave me an excuse to pull out my adorable Oven Fresh set from Claire Brennan.

I had originally planned to make a 4" square card, but when I went to score the card, out of habit, I scored it at 4.25", so the front was much shorter than the back. I made it work by using some scalloped scissors to create the edge, and putting some decorative paper on the inside to add to the design. It was a happy mistake :)

When the card is open you can see the paper on the inside, and the scallops from the front.

The gingerbread woman is stamped on brown foam for something a little different, and maybe to make it somewhat more realistic than paper.

I used Liquid Applique on the shoes, and the icing on the arms. I didn't let it dry well enough before heating, so that is why there are the little "bubbles". I don't mind it though because it looks like dabs of icing decorating the cookie :)

The frame for the image was created with my Labels 2 nestabilities die , purchased from Treehouse Stamps. I embossed the die, then leaving it in place, I sponged all around it to create a frame that remained the base colour, and is embossed.

I then carefully used my xacto knife to cut slits along the embossing for the ribbon to thread through.

The tag was stamped on shrink plastic, and the candy canes were stamped on the back of the shrink plastic, so they appear more faded. This is the first time I have used shrink plastic, and I had a really good time watching it crinkle up, then straighten out. I see much more of it in my future.

Raspberry Suite Colour Challange

2009-07-19T17:29:00.007-06:00

I am totally *in love* with Dawn McVey's bright and unique colour combinations, and every week she posts her Raspberry Suite colour challenge, but this is the first time I have played along.

Dawn gave us this wonderful photo, and the colours above. And here is the card that I made.

I chose Pixie Pink as my bright pink, and Bravo Burgendy as my dark red.

It's hard to tell, with all the sponging, but the Bubble Gum Tree image is stamped on cream cardstock and the base is also made of cream cardstock.

I added Prima flowers, dew drops, and crystal effects to add dimension to the various parts of the tree. The tree trunk is sponged with burgundy, and the background is sponged with Certainly Celery.

The ribbons are a cream grosgrain from Stampin' Up, and a burgundy velvet ric rac from May Arts, purchased from one of Jody's previous ribbon sales.

Quilted Canvas

2009-07-17T22:07:00.011-06:00

I am totally in love with this project, and I hope you are too!

This week Lauren gave us all this graphic as our inspiration piece.

Although she pulled out the colours, it is not a requirement that you use these colours. The point is that you take some kind of inspiration from the image. It can be the pattern, texture, shape, colours, anything!

I decided to paint a canvas, inspired partly by the canvases Erika Martin has been promoting lately, that copied the photo as close as I could with the stamps I had on hand. Here's a side by side comparison.

I taped off the different sections and painted them with acrylic paint. I have *really* been loving my paints recently, but I also wanted to make sure I had good coverage on the canvas. All of the stamping was also done with paints.

The sections on the left used Shapes by Design from PTI, and the section on the right uses 3 step Hearts and Roses from Kitchen Sink Stamps. I *love* how easily it is to get roses that have interesting colours and shading with just stamps.

The pink paint is pearlecent, and has a nice shimmer to it. The green centre section has stickles around the circles, and the blue lines on the bottom section are covered in fun flock.

After the canvas was painted, and dried for a night I added the text. The "Sister" was cut out using the Sunset sizzlits alphabet. (it doesn't show up on the Sizzix website, so it may be discontinued)

The rest of the text was stamped with cheap dollar alphabet sets from Michael's and reads, "My Sister a special part of our family fabric"

I know that it is somewhat difficult to read the rest of the text, but I wanted to make sure the background was still really visible.

I will be giving this to my sister before she moves to New Zealand in September with her new husband. She has been living in England for the past year, and is coming back to Canada for a month, primarily to get married, then moving with her husband to set up a life in New Zealand. I want her to have this to know that even though she will be half a world away, we will be thinking of her, and she will know that we value her as a member of our family, and that doesn't change with distance.

I know that when she looks at this Heather will think of me, and our family and that makes me feel great.

Now that I have talked for WAY too long, I hope still have energy to visit the rest of the design team and see their take on the inspiration. The peeks below look AMAZING, and I can't wait to see how everyone else was inspired.

Lauren
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

Pink, Brown and Orange? Oh, My!

2009-07-11T00:18:00.003-06:00

I really like the bag that Lauren chose for this week's colour challenge, but I was not sure how I was going to use the colours. I *love* pink and brown together, but once you add the orange (or yellow it becomes much more difficult for me.

I knew I wanted to use my new stamps from the amazing Claire Brennan, so I pulled out Celtic Heritage and finally decided on the adorable birds.

My favourite part of these birds is that the baby bird is the PERFECT size to nest right in the wing of the mama (or papa) bird.

This is a 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 square card with a chocolate chip base, and pixie pink for the centre square. I don't have any raspberry cardstock, which is what it looked like to me, so I settled on pixie pink. I also had some trouble with the orange/yellow. The closest I have is summer sun, and although not a perfect match, I think it looks pretty good together, and is fairly close to the colour in the challenge.

The card is really simple and clean, but sometimes those make the best cards. Since I was using Claire's new set, I guess I was taking inspiration from some of her amazing clean and elegant cards.

The ribbon is some cheap white ribbed ribbon from the dollar store, and was dyed by rubbing both sides across my summer sun stamp pad to match the colour of the birds.

The birds, and the sentiment were stamped in versamark, then heat embossed with white detail embossing powder.

The birds, and the punched frame are up on pop dots to add some interest to the simple card.

I hope some of you saw the amazing sneak peaks that were up yesterday, and are anxious to see what everyone else on the team has posted.

Please stop by and leave them some comments.

Lauren
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

My Time to Colour Challenge

2009-07-10T06:31:00.006-06:00

So, we are going to be trying something a bit different with Lauren's My Time design team. we are going to be posting the sneak peaks of our projects on Friday. This will give you a taste of what is to come, and maybe give you a hint as to the colours that were chosen before we reveal the actual image and all of our cards. The peaks look GREAT this week (as always), and I can't wait to see the full images tomorrow.

Here is a list of the design team so you are ready to visit them tomorrow for the full reveals!

Lauren
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

High Hopes Blog Candy

2009-07-09T08:47:00.002-06:00

If you love High Hopes stamps, and who doesn't, you need to go HERE right now!!

Crissy, one of the illustrators for High Hopes, is giving away *7* FABULOUS prizes on her blog. Go check it out!!

Return of the Wranglers

2009-06-26T23:42:00.005-06:00

It is REALLY late here, and I *finally* got blogger to load, so I won't be saying too much about this card. It has been a real challenge to get things together this week. I finished my card late, then blogger was being difficult. However, I finally got it all together and my card is posted below.

The colours this week were really perfect for a cowboy theme. I want to use them again for more masculine, and "outdoor" type cards.

This is another card with the fabulous Weiman Wranglers, with all proceeds going to Make a Wish foundation. If you haven't bought your set yet, what are you waiting for!?! See Lauren's post for more information.

I printed the Ava and Ethan images on cream cardstock after having moved them to be almost as if they are holding hands.

The balloons have icicle stickles on them, and the sentiment was punched using my label buddy.

Please check out the rest of the team, and join us in the challenge this week.

Lauren
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana

Welcome the Weiman Wranglers!

2009-06-22T04:00:00.007-06:00

On August 5, 2004, Ethan Weiman was welcomed into this world, and into the loving arms of his parents, Dave and Alicia Weiman.

On June 12, 2009 Ethan's little life left those same loving arms, as he was welcomed into the loving arms of God in Heaven. In his mother's words " Heaven gained the greatest little boy ever".

Ethan was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma in July of 2007. He was a brave, and tough little cowboy! Ethan loved Knock Knock jokes, balloons, and of course, being the true cowboy that he was - horses! His younger sister, Ava just adored her big, brave brother.

Pink Cat Studios has designed the Weiman Wranglers digital stamps to honor the life of Ethan Weiman and raise money for the Make-A-Wish foundation. The Cowboy Ethan and Cowgirl Ava digital stamps can be purchased separately for $4.00 each or combined for $6.00. Please visit the Pink Cat Studio website to purchase the digital stamps. And to see the amazing samples from the My Time Design team.

If you haven't used digi stamps before, be sure to visit Dana's blog for a mini tutorial on how to use this images in Microsoft Word, and Tracey's blog tomorrow for a tutorial on how easy they are to use.

My sample used the Cowboy Ethan digi stamp. I used the image of Ethan above to choose the colours for this image.

I printed the image on cream cardstock and coloured it with Prismacolour pencil crayons.

Then, I printed another image on plain paper, and cut it out to create a mask. I sponged a sunset around the top half of the image, and sponged brown along the bottom to create the ground.

This is what it looked like before I trimmed the image to use it on my card.

The sentiment was printed on silver paper, then embossed with clear embossing powder because the ink was not drying on the paper, and I didn't want it to smear.

The balloon was done with liquid pearls, then sponged to add some colour. I love the dimension the liquid pearls add to the balloon. It makes it look like a mylar balloon.

Please visit the Pink Cat Studio website to see all of the design team samples, and to purchase your own images as we raise money for the Make a Wish foundation.

The design team has been really busy getting samples ready for the release today, and they would all love to hear what you think of their projects. Please visit them and share the love.

Lauren
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristin
Tracey
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana

Picnic Fun

2009-06-19T23:45:00.003-06:00

This week, on the heels of a new Papertrey release, Lauren's My Time team has created projects using one of her My Timeless Templates, and as an additional challenge we had to create our own background paper.

I couldn't help using one of the newest templates, Pack a Picnic. I absolutely love this template, and have lots of ideas, unfortunately I ran out of time, and don't have this quite done because I wanted to buy a strawberry plant to put inside of this basket before I gave it away.

The pattern was printed on kraft cardstock, and I used my acrylic paints again (I recently found them in my craft room, and I can't get enough of my paints) to lightly paint red and white stripes across the basket in a loose plaid pattern.

The image is from Unity and is part of the Fall Festival set. I had originally thought I would use a cherry or strawberry image on the basket, but I think the pie is much cuter. I can just see the strawberry pies now!

Instead of using the cardtock handles that come as part of the pattern I decided to use twill and I really like the look it gives. I am quite pleased with how this turned out, and I can't wait to use it again!

Be sure to check out the rest of the team, and play along this week with your own stamped (or painted) paper! These samples look fantastic, visit the blogs below to see the whole project!

Lauren
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristen
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana

Remembering Ethan

2009-06-14T16:55:00.004-06:00

This is a blog post that is very difficult to write. Alicia, a member of our My Time design team, lost her wonderful caring 4 year old son Ethan this weekend. Ethan had been battling cancer for 2 years, and Alicia and her family have remained amazingly strong throughout this journey. They have detailed the struggle on their CaringBridge pages, and I am sure some of you have already been following their journey.

The DT wanted to do something in memory of Ethan, and to help the Weimans, so Lauren and Kristin organized a paypal account for us to make donations. Alicia has asked that in lieu of flowers, we fill the room with balloons, so we will be ordering a big bouquet of balloons as well as a Schwann's gift so that the family has one less thing to worry about in this difficult time.

If you want to donate, please click on the paypal link ----------->
any money that is collected that exceeds the need for the balloons and gift, will be given to the familly as cash to help pay for final expesnses, outstanding medical bills, or for them to donate to a charity of their choice.

Inspiration Wish

2009-06-12T22:54:00.003-06:00

This week we have a really cool inspiration photo to play with. The idea with inspiration photos is to take something from the photo and use those elements on you card, or project. It can be the colours, the elements, the shapes, the style.....

I chose to use the colours, and the circle theme to come up with this card.

When I saw the inspiration photo I immidately thought of a recent post that Pine did on reverse applique, and how great that would look with coloured circles. I am really happy with how it turned out.

Initially, I just had the coloured circles, and although I had planned on outlining them with white gel pen, I was worried it wouldn't look good, so I took a "before" photo just in case I had to use that as my post today :)

As you can see, this card is okay, but it is so much better with the faux stitching around the circles.

The sentiment is from Unity, and is stamped in versamark and embossed with white powder.

This week Lauren has been focused on the PTI release, and on making FABULOUS gifts for her children's teachers, so she is sitting this one out, and Kristin is hosting for us. Be sure to check out her blog, and the rest of the fabulous DT to see the full cards that go with these amazing peeks.

Dawn
MacKenzie
Kristin
Tracey
Jennifer
Odette
Dana

Christmas sketch challenge

2009-06-06T00:26:00.002-06:00

The sketch challenge this week was a really simple one for me. I think this sketch lends itself to using patterned paper, and I have lots of that to use :)

Here is the sketch we were given,

and here is my card.

I had originally planned on continuing my week in Unity with the sketch from Lauren this week, but I *just* received my adorable Oven Fresh stamp set from the amazing Clare Brennan and I had to make something right away!

Clare is an absolutely fabulous artist, and her cards, and 3-d projects blow me away. I am so glad she has decided to start designing her own stamps.

The Gingerbread Man was stamped on chocolate chip cardstock, after I had peeled the paper in two and had a softer look to the paper.

The icing is done with Opal perfect pearls, and the buttons are Holly Stickles.

Please make sure you check out the rest of the sketch team to see their fabulous creations.

Lauren
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristen
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

Hip Hop Hangover

2009-06-05T00:17:00.003-06:00

Today is my last day of Growing in Unity, and it's hip hop hangover.

I used the stamp Cheer Santa to get a start on my Christmas cards, and also because one of Jeanne's challenges yesterday was to use black and red, and that got me thinking about what stamps I had that would work for those colours.

I stamped the image on both white, and red, so that I could paper piece the snowsuit, pants and hat. I used fake glitter snow on the edges of the coat and hat. It adds a super great sparkle, and some great "poofy" dimension to the coat.

The beard, mustache and hair were done with opal liquid pearls. I love the shine it gives.

The boots were coloured with my black Spica glitter pen. It has sooo much shimmer to it.

I sketched in the floor to ground the image somewhat.

Thanks so much to everyone that stopped by during my week in Unity.

Congratulations to Anthonette who is the winner of the single "Be the Change". please contact Eryn to get this sent out!

First Scrapbook Page EVER

2009-06-04T00:01:00.000-06:00

I have wanted to scrapbook ever since I started stamping about 2 years ago. I have always been too nervous to start because I didn't want my first page to be a big bust.

I am glad I finally just jumped right in, and am really pleased with the way this page turned out.

I started out by stamping the swirls on the side of the 12*12 textured cardstock in versamark, and embossing them with clear powder. I put down the first part of my title phrase using stickers, then sponged black acrylic paint over the top, and removed the stickers.

I wanted to make sure there was some journaling that would jog my memory about the event, and the great time we had.

"A few months ago Deron tuned me into last.fm, and more specifically, Joel Plaskett. We discovered he woul dbe playing in Regina at the Districkt. A few friends joined us and we had an absolutely FABULOUS time. The concert was great, but it was even better that Deron stopped Joel during the break and I was able to snap this great shot!"

The clear stars were punched from some plastic packaging that came with some other embelishments I recently bought. I love that I was able to use all of the purchase, including the packaging :)

The capital J and P are grungeboard letters that were first inked in diluted Old Olive ink, then once it was dry, I rubbed Only Orange ink lightly over the top to highlight the dots.

These are the Unity stamps that I used in this layout. Scalloped Details & Dates, You Rock from School Rock Star, and three swirls that I got in my grab box, and I can't find it on the Unity website.

Thanks for stopping by today! Be sure to leave a comment on my post from Monday to be eligible to win your own copy of Be The Change. I will be announcing the winner on SCS during the blog hop.

Easy-Peasy bookmarks

2009-06-03T09:48:00.003-06:00

I had hoped to have a scrapbook page ready for today, but my time got away from me, so instead, I have these really easy, but super cute bookmarks.

The stamp is a large rose from the same retired set that I used yesterday (more or less a larger version of little buggers with some differences in some of the images).

When I stamped it on the patterned paper omitting the leaves, it looked more like a lollipop, but I had already planned to put them in a small pot.

I used my Spica Atyou glitter pens to colour the edges and the centre swirl to add some additional colour, and glitter to the images.

I *hope* to have my scrapbook page ready for Hip Hop tomorrow, so come back to see my first ever scrapbook page.

Please add a comment to THIS POST for your chance to win a free Unity single.

Unity post - delayed

2009-06-03T06:07:00.003-06:00

I am not quite finished with my Unity project for today, so it will go up later today.

To tide you over, here are a few projects I have made using Unity that you might have missed.

Mother's Day frame

Marvelous Cupcakes

Birthday Card for Angela

I'll be back soon with my new project :)

Sparkle Sparkle Everywhere

2009-06-02T01:00:00.000-06:00

My Unity card today is all about the sparkle. I used glimmer paper from Paper Temptress, twinkling H2Os, and glitter.

I stamped the butterfly, from a set that must be retired because I can't find it, in versamark on velum cardstock, then embossed it with black EP.

I used twinkling H2Os to colour in the butterfly. I love the sparkle it gives. I don't think you can really see it, but it gives the image a really cool shimmer.

This image was cut out very close to the outside edge, and popped up with foam dots.

I also finally cracked open my glimmer cardstock for the card base, and for the sentiment. It also has a really great shimmer to it.

I stamped the sentiment from Spunky Princess in black Pallette ink, then punched it out with the scallop circle punch from SU.

I wanted to use stickles for the centres of these flowers, but I couldn't find my icicle stickles, so I used crystal effects, and dazzling diamonds to add just a little more bling.

Don't forget to comment on the post from yesterday for a chance to win your own Be the Change single. I will pick a winner from the comments on that post during Hip Hop on Thursday.

Growing in Unity

2009-06-01T00:04:00.004-06:00

It's finally here!!!

All this week I will be showcasing Unity Stamps projects on my blog as part of the Growing in Unity project started by Ramsey and Michelle. This was started in October 2008, and we are still going strong with fabulous stampers that want to take their turn to showcase these wonderful stamps.

My first project is a fairly simple layer card using one of Unity's fabulous sentiments as the focal point. Angela loves quotes, and has some great stamps to show for that love. This is one of my favourites.

The sentiment was stamped in versamark on kraft cardstock and embossed with white embossing powder. The edges were wiped with a sponge that was lightly dipped in white acrylic paint to give a distressed edge.

I love the pop of colour provided by the buttons. The "thread" is actually a small sliver of kraft cardstock pushed through the button holes. It's a perfect way to finish the buttons in any coordinating colour you need.

As most of you probably know, Angela (the queen of Unity) is extremely generous, and is allowing me to give away a single of my choice on Thursday during Hip Hop. As this is one of my favourite Unity stamps, and one of the first I bought, Be The Change will be the single that is up for grabs this week.

On Thursday during Hip Hop, I will choose one person that has commented on this post to receive the free stamp. Please make sure you don't comment anonymously so that if you win I can contact you.

I hope to see you back here throughout the week as I continue to showcase Unity!

Dry Embossing on Velum

2009-05-30T00:01:00.001-06:00

I didn't know if I would get a card made for this week's challenge because it is *finally* warm in Saskatchewan, and I have been spending most evenings outside cleaning up the yard and planting a garden.

Since the tiger lily is the provincial flower of Saskatchewan, I thought this would be a great image to use to welcome in the warm weather.

The technique this week (in months with 5 Saturdays, the last one will be a technique challenge) that Lauren gave us was to dry emboss on velum. I am really pleased with the image, but not really happy with the card. I can tell it was kind of rushed to get finished. I am sure my grandma, or someone in my family will like it, so it won't totally go to waste.

I stamped this lily stained glass in versamark on velum paper and dry embossed the lines of the flower using a small stylus.

The image was coloured using SU markers on a cd, then picking up the colour with a blender pen.

Please check out the rest of the design team and see what they came up with this week.

Lauren
Maria
Kristin
Tracey
Pam
Dana
Alicia
Mackenzie

SOA is LIVE!!

2009-05-25T19:30:00.004-06:00

It's finally here! Stamping out Alzheimer's pay to play is live as of today! You can join and be a part of this fabulous community with a chance to win thousands of dollars in prizes and get some free downloads with a minimum $5.00 donation. (see the blinkie under my photo) ------>

Kristin and I are even hosting one of the challenges, and we would love to have you join us.

Here is my sample for the challenge.

Join the forum to see what it's all about, and for your chance to win some free stamp sets, gift certificates and more!!!

Also, see my post below for your chance to win one of Lauren's My Timeless Templates.

Stamp Out Alzheimers

2009-05-22T22:03:00.000-06:00

Please Scroll Down for Lauren's Saturday My Time Colour Challenge.

Jen Tapler of Jen Tapler Designs (and also a member of Lauren's Saturday My Time Team) has partnered with Susanna Boyd, owner of Papercraft Planet, to bring you a new and improved version of her annual Stampin' Out Alzheimer's (SOA) event!! What is SOA you might ask?

SOA is an exciting "pay to play" virtual papercrafting event to benefit the Alzheimer's Association. Jen's father, like so many others, suffers from Alzheimer's disease. It's a horrible disease that really takes it's toll on an entire family.

Susanna and Jen, along with a group of generous sponsors and challenge hostesses (I'm one of the hostesses!), have teamed up to create a temporary online community where members can take part in a variety of challenges, contests, classes and workshops, and download several free products (a special digital kit, a printable 3-d template, tutorials, etc) in different papercrafting categories (stamping, cardmaking, paperscrapbooking, digi scrapping, hybrid, etc). All this for a suggested donation of $5.00. 100% of these funds will be donated to the Alzheimer's Association to help with their efforts to provide and enhance care and support for all those affected by this heartbreaking disease.

I am hosting a 3-d challenge where you can win one of Lauren's Amazing templates. Please join me in the forums!

And, because I think this is such a great cause, if you comment on this post letting me know you have made your donation and joined the forum I will enter your name into a special drawing for one of Lauren's templates that I will purchase for the one lucky winner randomly selected from everyone that donates and comments by June 1st.

So far the response from the papercrafting industry has been amazing and hundreds of dollars worth of prizes have been received to be given away throughout the event by our generous sponsors.

Alzheimer's Disease is currently the 7th leading cause of death in the U.S. It is a fatal, progressive disease that slowly robs a person of their precious memories. We are involved in the memory preservation hobbies - what better cause for the papercrafting community to join together to support?

Use the "give" link in the top of my side-bar to make your donation - you can determine the amount you donate using the drop-down menu, but we suggest a minimum $5 donation. Once you've made your donation, go register on the Stampin' Out Alzheimer's site. The challenges and other content won't be visible until May 25, but you can go ahead and join, set up a profile and visit the "Alzheimer's in our Community" group to share your own story about how Alzheimer's has affected your life or that of a loved one. If you are currently providing care for a family member or loved one with the disease, we've also included a Caregiver Resources page full of useful information and links to educational information and support.

I hope you'll join us May 25-31 to Stamp Out Alzheimer's!

Back to Basics

2009-05-22T20:51:00.006-06:00

This week we have a super bright, and super fun colour challenge for Lauren's My Time to Create DT.

When I looked at this dress I thought "Summer Fun"!! And I decided to make a fun card for a summer cocktail party. I interpreted these colours to be Purely Pomegranate, Groovy Guava, So Saffron, Cool Caribbean, Certainly Celery, and White.

This is the card I made with these fun, and bright colours.

The backgrounds were all made by stamping using versamark to achieve a tone on tone look. I think it's great to pull out some basic techniques like stamping background paper.

The stamps I used are from the Cocktail Party Set from A Chemistry with Paper.

The sentiment is embossed with clear embossing powder to make it stand out more, because on the Guava paper the versmark ink is not as distinctive.

These colours were so fun, that I am sure the entire DT has great projects in store for you. Just look at the samples below!

Lauren
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristen
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

Gift in shades of purple

2009-05-15T22:32:00.004-06:00

It's time for another FABULOUS Saturday Challenge with the Amazing Lauren Meader.

This week, to celebrate the newest PTI/Lauren template releases, all of the members of the team were to use one of Lauren's templates to create a birthday gift. We also had to use either butterflies, or the colour purple (or both) as these are two of Lauren's favourite things.

Here are the amazing peeks at everyone's creations.

And here is what I made with the For Keep{sake} template.

I printed the template on to kraft cardstock, and cut the windows on either side with my nestabilities, then I sponged purple ink around the cutouts, and along all of the folded edges of the box.

After the edges were all sponged, I used barely banana ink to stamp my French Script bacgrounder stamp on the panels to add an aged look to the gift. It's hard to tell, but you can kind of see the script in the photo below.

I filled the bottom of the box with purple paper that had been run through my crimper, cut in thin strips, then crumpled up to make some nice filler.

The actual gift is a few packages of flower seeds that are attached to each other, and the ribbon, with glue dots. When you take off the lid, the packages of seeds also get taken out of the box.

The flowers were stamped using PTI's Floral Frenzy and my very brand new Twinlking H2O's from Luminarte. I got sucked in by their going out of business sale, and ordered 4 packages of 24 mini pots. They just arrived a few days ago, and I couldn't wait to use them. I pulled out 5 different purple colours, and painted them right onto the stamps before stamping the images on to the carstock. I don't know if you can really tell in the photos, but they have some great shimmer IRL.

Please join us in using one of Lauren's templates to create a birthday gift. You do not have to purchase a template to play along, you can always use one of the free templates. Stocking Stuffer or Recipe Wrap Up.

Be sure to check out the rest of the amazing design team and see what they have created to inspire you.

Lauren
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristen
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

Mom

2009-05-08T23:59:00.000-06:00

Today it's inspiration time for Lauren's Saturday My Time to Create team.

This was the inspiration photo.

And here is my project. I used the colours in the dress, and the flowers as my inspiration for this project.

I had a wooden frame that I got at the dollar store. I painted it with watered down white acrylic paint, then added the flowers using the eraser from a wooden pencil.

I used acrylic paints that I have had for many years, and some of them were thicker than others, which added to the dimension.

The letters are cut from the sunset sizzix alphabet, and the only stamp I used is my favourite one from Unity, Wish Sticks. It was stamped on a super thin coaster using brown paint.

The centre panel is a quote I found online, and I printed it on flecked cream cardstock using Becky Higgins font.

I love my mother as the trees love water and sunshine
she helps me grow, prosper, and reach great heights.
Adabella Radici

Please check out the rest of the design team, and join us this week!

Lauren
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristen
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana
Alicia

New Sketch Team

2009-05-02T00:01:00.001-06:00

Hi! Welcome to the first sketch with Lauren's new full team! The peaks look amazing, and I am sure your will be in for a treat as you visit their blogs.

The sketch this week is one that I would love to use as a scrapbook page, but instead, I made a birthday card for Lauren. Her birthday is on May 3rd, and the optional, additional challenge is to make a birthday card using the sketch.

This is the card I made for Lauren's birthday. We all know how much she loves butterflies, so that was the starting point for me. I didn't add a sentiment because I didn't have one that would fit along the side.

The butterflies are stamped on velum paper using the SU retired set Simple Sketches. I stamped the base image on the velum, then the other two layers on a different part of the velum to add a different element to the dimension. I cut out all of the butterflies with paper snips, and layered them with mini glue dots.

You can kind of see the glue dots through the velum, but not too much, and I love the depth it creates.

I used my piercer to make the trails, and my spica glitter pen to add some glitter to the butterflies. I don't know if you can see it in the photo, but IRL there is some glitter there.

I added the green prima flowers to provide some balance to the green paper on the other side of the card.

I never decorate the inside of my cards, but this one is for the fabulous Lauren, so I decided to make the inside pretty too.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the inside when it was light outside, so the colours are somewhat "off".

I had some extra butterflies stamped on velum, and decided to cut them out to continue the theme to the inside. I used the top note die to create the black frame around the kraft cardstock to again mirror the colours and theme from the front of the card.

I hope you will play along this week!

Please check in with everyone else, show them some love and welcome them to the team. I am really excited to be working with such an amazingly talented group of people!

Lauren
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra
Kristen
Tracey
Pam
Jennifer
Odette
Lisa
Dana

When you participate, please come back and lets us know, and use the keyword mytimess32 in any online gallery so that we can find all of your wonderful creations.

Templates to the rescue!

2009-04-30T11:00:00.000-06:00

Grab a coffee, because this is a long post, with lots of photos.

One of my best friends from high school recently had her first child, a baby boy.
I wanted to make something special for her, and her son William.

I bought a plain wooden frame at Michael's thinking I would somehow paint it or "scrapbook" it for him.

I knew that the colours in his room were chocolate brown, orange, and light green. I went to my LSS and found the PERFECT paper to use as the background.

I pulled the colours from the paper and painted the frame chocolate brown and lime green. Then the paper was cut to size, and the centre square was cut out. I used the same green paint to dry brush an area that would "frame" the name that was cut out using my Big Shot, and the Sunset font from Sizzix.

I added some extra dimension by using some of the paper that was cut out for the centre frame, and continuing the pattern. I also used my star punch to add some stars to the corner of the frame, and some fabulous buttons to fill in some of the circles on the paper.

This is the first time I have done anything "scrappy", and I am really happy with how it all turned out.

I also wanted to make something special for Chris (the mom) because I know she will need some time to herself to relax as well. Lauren's From the Desk of template to the rescue!

I made two of the From the Desk of templates, and then secured them back to back to create a carrying case for the goodies. I used the tip Lauren shared here to add the side panels to the doubled template. They fit perfectly!

I cut out a little handle using my circle punch from SU, and punching 3 times to make enough room to carry it.

Inside the gift was a bottle of liquid honey, two boxes of cookes, and an assortment of teas.

I made a small box for the teas, and wrapped the cookies in coordinating paper, so that when it was all packaged up, it looked like an actual gift basket.

BLOG CANDY!!

2009-04-27T07:25:00.006-06:00

Below are a number of fantastic blogs offering candy. You better act fast though because at the end of April, these will all be given away.

Passion for crafts is giving away this AMAZING collection April 30th.

Look at the Copics and Nesties.

My cardz is giving away some ink, nesties, stamp, and basic grey paper pack.

Tammy's Place is giving away this amazing assortment on April 29th.

Vicki is giving away these awesome items on April 30th.

Saturday COLOUR Challenge!

2009-04-25T01:00:00.000-06:00

You might be surprised that I am not doing a sketch challenge with Lauren this week, but that's because she changed up the sketch team, and the way we will be doing challenges. Read here for all the details.

So, this week we had a colour challenge using this fantastic bag from Clutterbags.

Instead of making one card using all of those colours, I chose to make one Project using all of the colours. (I substituted Real Red for Pure Poppy, Cool Caribean for Spring Rain, and Basic Grey for Smokey Shadow).

This is a mail sorter using Lauren's Filed with Flair template from PTI.

It does not stand for To Be Determined (although with mail that could be the case), but instead it is for Tamara, Bills (yuck), and Deron (my partner).

The front is somewhat plain, but I added more details to the sides.

The second layer on the sides was printed on cardstock weight velum and cut out. Then I inked my texture plates with the corresponding ink and ran them through my Big Shot.

I also added some ribbon and ric-rac, the ric-rac was MUCH easier to get around those corners, and finished off the top of my box with a couple of Prima flowers.

I wanted to keep it kind of plain so that if it gets ripped or something due to daily use with the mail I won't be too upset about it because I can easily make another folder to fit into the tray.

Please check out the rest of the COLOUR challenge team this week!

Lauren
Dawn
MacKenzie
Maria
Kendra

When uploading to any public galleries or forums, please use the code MTTC01 so we can find your AWESOME creations.

Ants on Parade

2009-04-23T09:15:00.003-06:00

I got this cute bug image in an image swap a couple of months ago. I just now am getting around to using it because of challenge #10 on Three Clovers Design.

The challenge today was to use any animal stamp.

The grass background paper is from a HUGE package I got for really cheap at Joanne's the last time I was in the US.

It's a super simple card, but I think it's cute, and I guess that is what is most important.

Mojo Monday - 83, Tamara - 1

2009-04-20T07:45:00.003-06:00

I have heard about Mojo Monday for quite a while, but I have never participated. Until today!

I made this card for my partner who was SUPER supportive this weekend as I crafted most of the day Saturday, and for a few hours Sunday morning making a gift for a friend's baby shower. (That project coming later this week).

I think I followed the sketch pretty well for a first try.

Initially, I had done the card without a sentiment, but it looked kind of dark, so I added the sentiment which really brightened it up.

This was a REALLY quick card for me (about 10 minutes). I used Mocha Chica stamps and Mocha Chica paper, both from the Kim Hughes collection at CHF.

The bottom scallops were cut with some r-e-a-l-l-y old decorative scissors because I don't have a scallop punch of any kind.

The "branch" is from the Bird with Leaves & Flowers die that I got from SU.

The bird is popped, and the wing is pieced, and popped to add some great dimension.

Saturday Sketch!

2009-04-17T22:33:00.005-06:00

I am back with another of Lauren's FABULOUS sketches.

Here is the sketch.

And here is my card

I used the Chocolate Chip designer series paper from SU for the background. I used a brayer to add the pink to the paper. I am totally in love with pink and chocolate brown!

The stamp, and the smaller brown and pink paper are all from the Kim Hughes collection, available at CHF.

The felt flowers are from the accents and elements kit from SU. The brads are covered with pink perfect pearls because I didn't have any pink brads. I went over the "love", the bird's wing, and some of the flowers on the background with my clear spica glitter pen. It is really sparkly!

Be sure to check out the rest of the sketch team, including Lauren's blog for her changes for the upcoming sketches.

Lauren
McKenzie
Dawn
Maria
Kendra
Kirsten
Kristy

Also, I missed last weekend because I was busy with Easter, so I whipped something up for that sketch as well. I really don't like my card, and I hope to have time to do another one this weekend to vindicate myself with this sketch.

It didn't really turn out as I envisioned. I thought the flowers would be more white, and not so clear. In order to make them stand out more, I drew around them with a white pencil crayon.

The sentiment is also hand written with a white pencil crayon. Then it looked kind of bland, so I added some doodles, but my doodles are not too good, and now it looks very amateurish. I am going to *try* to fix this card, but I am not holding out too much hope.

Blog Candy Winner!

2009-04-01T06:10:00.003-06:00

First off, thanks for all the great comments in regards to SPRING!! I *did* get over 25 comments, so I will be adding to the blog candy. I didn't get a chance to take a photo of the additions before I left for Toronto, but I will update this post with the full prize photo when I get back.

Random.org chose number 11 which is
Lela said...

Happy Birthday. My favorite part of Spring is Tulips! They're my favorite flowers

Please contact me with your address so I can get this in the mail.
(I will also send you an email).

**Sorry! I thought this was scheduled to post, but it didn't.**

Sketch Challenge - Unity Style!

2009-03-27T22:03:00.009-06:00

Welcome to my World Record Breaking Blog Hop post! Start your inspirational Blog Hop HERE!

It is also Lauren's Saturday sketch challenge rewind where we take any previous sketch and use that to make a card on the last Saturday of the month. This card uses the sketch from March 7.

Here is my card, using my BRAND NEW fabulous 1,2,3,4 Thousand Calorie Cupcakes stamp, and Marvelous from Unity of course.

The cupcakes have Liquid Applique for the frosting and crystal effects for the cherry. The cup is coloured with a silver marker to give the illusion of a metallic wrapper.

Before you go on to the next blog, the fabulous www.mamaolie.blogspot.com, be sure to check out my birthday blog candy in the post below.

And now, my favourite quote:

Well behaved women seldom make history.
- Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Hop on over to Mamaolie now!!

Belated Birthday Blog Candy

2009-03-26T07:14:00.004-06:00

Yesterday (March 25th) was my 30th birthday. I am really excited to be 30, and I want to share that excitement with all of you, so I am offering BLOG CANDY!!!

This candy will be available for one week from my actually birthday (closing on April 1). I will ship anywhere, so please join in the fun!

Here is what you can win:

A package of 6*6 Everyday Blessings paper from PTI, some unmounted singles from Unity, and some assorted Primas. (sorry about the picture, there's no natural light here yet. I may retake this photo later in the day)

If you want to win, please tell me your favourite thing about spring. Here in Saskatchewan, we had 4 months of terrible weather, and we thought it was finally warming up, but we got another few inches of snow last night, so I can't wait for spring!

For every 25 comments I receive I will add to the stash.

The rules:
Only one comment per person, and your comment MUST relate to spring.
If you link to this blog candy on your blog, post another comment with the link and you will get another entry. (I will verify all links to make sure they link back to this post)
Contest closes at midnight on April 1, and the winner will be announced April 2.

I am in Toronto at meetings that weekend, so the package will be mailed out to the winner on April 6.

Any questions, please send me an email.

Good Luck!

Birthday Blog Hop

2009-03-25T17:34:00.004-06:00

The challenege issued this month for the blog hop was:

March Blog Hop

Background building sets have rapidly become one of Papertrey's signature traits. For this month's Blog Hop, we want to see all of your very best backgrounds. They can be multi-colored or monochromatic. Simple or elegantly detailed. They can be created with a set originated for that purpose or a reinvention of images that were not. Be sure to include a separate photo of your completed background BEFORE you add it to your project so we can see it in all its glory!

I didn't have as much time as I would have liked to make a card, but I *did* get something done.

Here is my paper.

I stamped the Thank You in versamark, and clear embossed it. Then the flowers were stamped in Guava, sky blue, and eggplant. The background is sponged with barely banana, then I took a paper towel and "buffed" the entire image to make the words pop off the page. It didn't work as I had imagined it, but it turned out okay.

Here is the card I made.

Here is a close up of the words.

I want to add something more to it, but I don't know what. Perhaps a focal image, or some more embellishments. I will re-visit this card tomorrow and see what I can do. I really like the background as the focus, but it is still missing something.

Also, be sure to stop by tomorrow for BLOG CANDY to celebrate my birthday. Today is actually my 30th birthday, and I want to share the love with everyone. Come back for your chance to win some stamps, paper and embellishments.

Sketch for Ethan

2009-03-14T07:37:00.004-06:00

Today's sketch is a very special one. Lauren & Mackenzie suggested that all of the sketch team make a card to send to Ethan. Ethan is Alicia's son and his cancer has relapsed. She is a absolutely wonderful person, and another member of our Saturday sketch team. Mackenzie and Lauren thought it would be nice to make something to let Ethan and Alicia know we are all thinking of them, and I totally agree.

Here is the sketch from Lauren.

And here is my card.

I don't have very many "boy" stamps, but I think this astronaut from the now retired All Mixed Up fits the bill. This is actually the first time I have used this set.

The stars are punched from the small star punch from Stampin' Up!, and then embossed with three layers of glassy glaze.

The helmet has crystal effects on it to make it look more like glass.

I hope Ethan likes this card I have put in the mail to him. If you want to send a card, please let me know and I will give you his address.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the sketch team.

Lauren Meader
Maria Levine
Dawn Easton
Kirsten Dubosque
Kristy Vernon
Kim Gasper
MacKenzie Bruckler
Kendra Wisenbaker

Blog Candy round up

2009-03-13T09:37:00.001-06:00

Some of these blog candy opportunities end today, but some are open until the end of the month. One even has an opportunity to win a SLICE!!

Go visit these amazing blogs for inspiration, and a chance to win!

http://lifeonelayoutatatime.blogspot.com/2009/03/how-about-some-new-big-giveaways.html

http://stampingeek.blogspot.com/2009/03/blog-candy-time-its-my-birthday.html

http://countryheartandhome.blogspot.com/

http://heidishappystamping.blogspot.com/2009/03/birthday-blog-candy.html

http://karinhoeve.blogspot.com/

http://jeannettespages.blogspot.com/

Cool Caribbean comes out to play

2009-03-07T01:00:00.000-06:00

I {heart} Cool Caribbean cardstock from Stampin Up, and I was really sad when it retired. I have a couple of packs, but I am always scared to use it because I don't want it to be gone forever. Today, for Lauren's sketch challenge, I decided to pull some out of retirement.

This is the great sketch we had to work with. I have lots of ideas for this sketch, but I only had time to pull off one card.

Remember that the sketch is just a starting point for inspiration, and you don't have to follow it exactly.

This image was coloured using my SU markers, and Julie Buhler's technique on watercolour paper.

Please grab your stamps, and join in!

Here is what the rest of the sketch team made this week:

Lauren Meader
Maria Levine
Dawn Easton
Kirsten Dubosque
Kristy Vernon
Kim Gasper
MacKenzie Bruckler
Alicia Weimen
Kendra Wisenbaker

Sketch from the past!

2009-02-20T23:15:00.005-06:00

If you read Lauren's blog you know that she had some SUPER exciting news last week, and has been really busy with family commitments, so there isn't a new sketch for this week. What we have decided is to do a recap of our favourite sketches. This will become a regular feature of the sketch challenge participants.

I have chosen a sketch I missed from a few weeks ago. I hoped to have two cards done, but time got away from me. I do have another image coloured, but I am in meetings all day so I don't know if it will get up today or not.

I have been participating in a fantastic image swap for Canadians on SCS, and this Bride to be image is one I got from the swap. If you are Canadian you should check it out.

My sister is getting married this August, and her colours are pink and chocolate brown, so that is where I drew my inspiration for this card.

I just opened a new bottle of crystal effects, and I cut the hole to big, so the CE came out of the bottle too quickly and the glossy-ness of the work bride turned into the messiness of the word bride. I really like the way the glitter flowers turned out though, and I think I may reproduce this card before her shower this summer.

Please visit the rest of the sketch crew to see which sketches they chose to reproduce.

Lauren Meader
Maria Levine
Dawn Easton
Kirsten Dubosque
Kristy Vernon
Kim Gasper
MacKenzie Bruckler
Alicia Weimen
Kendra Wisenbaker

Super Speedy Sketch

2009-02-07T07:23:00.003-06:00

This will be a really short post as I rush out the door to take First Aid and CPR training all day today.

The luscious yellow paper is from Paper Temptress. It has a really nice shine to it. The stamp is from Gina K, and the image was coloured with SU markers on watercolour paper.

Don't forget to check in with the rest of the sketch team.

Lauren Meader
Maria Levine
Dawn Easton
Kirsten Dubosque
Kristy Vernon
Kim Gasper
MacKenzie Bruckler
Alicia Weimen
Kendra Wisenbaker

ARGHHH!

2009-01-17T15:08:00.005-06:00

I am so sorry this is so late. I can't find my camera. The photo was taken by my husband on his camera because mine seems to be MIA. I had to wait for him to get home to be able to post this week's sketch challenge.

This is another card that I am going to send to Julie's mom as part of the 1000 Valentine's Drive. It uses Bubs the Beaver from Our Craft Lounge. It is a super cute set, and I *love* the storage built into these sets. Be sure to check them out if you haven't yet seen the OCL stamps.

Here is Lauren's sketch

Remember, the sketch is for inspiration, and it is okay if you don't follow it exactly, the point is to get creating!

Be sure to check out the rest of the sketch team for their take on this week's design.

Lauren Meader
Maria Levine
Dawn Easton
Kirsten Dubosque
Kristy Vernon
Kim Gasper
MacKenzie Bruckler
Alicia Weimen
Kendra Wisenbaker

Three Clovers Blog Candy

2009-01-16T09:01:00.002-06:00

Have you seen this yet? Kerry at Three Clovers Designs is giving away some great blog candy including Martha Stewart punches, Basic Grey paper, cute stamps, and more.

Check it out!

Hip Hop Hangover

2009-01-16T01:00:00.000-06:00

First off, I must say that I am *trying* to work out some photography issues with my cards. I generally craft at night, and don't have natural light to work with, so I have been playing withe the white balance on my camera trying to get decent photos. I don't think I am there yet, but I will keep trying.

The first card is one that was created to fulfill the I {heart} Unity challenge that Jeanne posted during Hip Hop yesterday. This is the only love or heart stamp I have from unity.

I stamped the So & so loves stamp on watercolour paper using brown staz-on ink. Then I watercoloured the image using the watercolour wonder crayons from Stampin' Up! I wet my brush and picked up the colour from the crayons. This is my first ever attempt at watercolouring using the crayons, and I think it went okay.

The second challenge is a birthday card for Ms. Unity herself, the fabulous Angela!

This card uses the fantastic Cocktail Party set. The beverages are stamped with basic black ink, and coloured with SU markers. The "shadow" was created by colouring on a plastic case with a blue marker, then water colouring it on the image.

I rarely do anything inside my cards, but this seemed appropriate.

The lanterns at the top are stamped on velum, and embossed with black embossing powder. I then coloured them with SU markers, and used a wet brush to dilute the colour. They are cut out, and attached on pop dots.

You can kind of see the pop dots through the lanterns, but I don't mind it.

If you haven't already been there, make sure you visit Angela's blog to get the list of all of the Hip Hop Hangover participants.

Thanks for stopping by! Come back tomorrow for my contribution to Lauren's sketch challenge.

Let me know what you think of these cards. I love to hear what's on your mind.

It's COLD

2009-01-15T09:50:00.003-06:00

I wish I could just stay inside today and sit and craft by the fire. Instead I am at work, and had to deal with these temperatures to get here.

Info taken from the Weather Network

WIND CHILL WARNING: City of ReginaIssued at 7:27 AM CST THURSDAY 15 JANUARY 2009

EXTREME WIND CHILLS OF MINUS 40 TO MINUS 50 THIS MORNING. THIS IS A WARNING THAT EXTREME WIND CHILL CONDITIONS ARE IMMINENT OR OCCURRING IN THESE REGIONS. MONITOR WEATHER CONDITIONS..LISTEN FOR UPDATED STATEMENTS.

BITTERLY COLD TEMPERATURES IN THE MID MINUS 30'S TO MINUS 40 COMBINED WITH WINDS OF 15 TO 20 KM/H ARE CREATING EXTREME WIND CHILLS OF MINUS 45 TO MINUS 50 THIS MORNING. AT THESE WIND CHILL VALUES, FROSTBITE CAN OCCUR WITHIN MINUTES. WIND CHILL VALUES ARE EXPECTED TO MODERATE SLIGHTLY BY MIDDAY AS DAY TIME TEMPERATURES INCREASE.

-40C = -40F
-50C = -58F

Valentine's for a cause

2009-01-10T01:00:00.003-06:00

I am sure many of you have heard that the stamping community is trying to collect 1000 valentines to send to the Children's Hospital in Detroit. I am a regular reader of Julie's blog, and this post explains how her mom regularly donates cards to the hospital, and how YOU can get involved in this campaign.

There's also an opportunity to win blog candy!
Check out these blogs for more information.

This is my first card to donate, and it also follows Lauren's Saturday sketch.

This card uses all SU product (except the dew drop), although I think all of it is probably retired. The heart and flower stamp was stamped on the same light pink paper that I used for the larger background piece, then it was embossed with clear embossing powder. The paper was sponged with Pomegranate ink (love that colour), and the embossing resisted the ink. I then traced over the heart with stickles to add some bling.

Be sure to check out all of the members of the sketch team for more amazing inspiration.

Lauren Meader
Maria Levine
Dawn Easton
Kirsten Dubosque
Kristy Vernon
Kim Gasper
MacKenzie Bruckler
Alicia Weimen
Kendra Wisenbaker

Hip Hop Hangover

2009-01-08T20:27:00.005-06:00

Happy Hip Hop Hangover!

Didn't we all have a GREAT time looking at all of the amazing blogs during the Unity blog hop!?!?

I am soooo excited there is now a scrapbooking design team. I *really* want to start scrapbooking, and I am sure these amazing ladies will inspire me to take the plunge.

This card was made because of Jeanne's Unity Dazzle challenge, but I didn't get it done in time for the challenge, so it is my Friday hangover card.

This card was also inspired by the one that Sharon Harnist shared on the Classroom blog. I never reach for purple, but her card is GORGEOUS, so I decided to pull out some Plum cardstock for the card base.

The image was sitting on my stamp desk from last week when I made this card. It is coloured with chalks, and the wings are also covered using my clear spica glitter pen. So glittery in real life.

Along the edge of the card I used some old olive SU rub-ons. They don't show up too well, but the metal charm tied to the ribbon is about the same shape and size as the rub-ons, so it really seems to flow well.

Make sure you also check out the rest of the Hip Hop Hangover blogs by stopping by Angela's to get the whole list.

Cute as a Bug!

2009-01-03T01:19:00.006-06:00

Lauren's sketch challenge this week is such an easy and versatile sketch.

I decided to pull out some much under-used Unity Stamps. Their stamps are HUGE, but this is one way to break them up and use them on a card.

I stamped the caterpillar from Buzzin Around, then punched out three sections of 1.25 inches to create the squares in the sketch. The background is was created with a flower stamp from the same set using versmark to create a watermark feel.

I coloured the sections of the caterpillar using a paint brush and the bashful blue ink. It was "pounced" on and gives kind of a sponged appearance, but with more control and the ability to get into smaller areas.

The antennae are made with some craft wire, and I love the whimsical feel of them.

I stamped the sentiment using a $1.50 set from Michael's. The "cute as a" is stamped off once, and the "bug" is at full strength to make it more prominent.

Please the new addition to the sketch challenge team for 2009, Kendra Wisenbaker. As well as the rest of the team.

Lauren Meader
Maria Levine
Dawn Easton
Kirsten Dubosque
Kristy Vernon
Kim Gasper
MacKenzie Bruckler
Alicia Weimen

Dies and Dies and Dies, Oh My!

2009-01-01T16:52:00.004-06:00

I have been soooo busy, like everyone I am sure, for the past few weeks getting ready for the holidays, then enjoying time with family.

This card is my first card of 2009, and it completes two challenges.

Kristina's Colour challenge

And Sharon Johnson's "New Toys" challenge

I got a Big Shot for Christmas and I couldn't wait to play with it!!

This card has no stamping at all, and I don't love it, but I *do* love that I now have a die cut machine to play with.

The white scalloped circle is sponged with Pretty in Pink ink, and the edges are dragged in the same ink to make the bumps more prominent.

I absolutely need to spend more time playing with my Big Shot, but I had such a blast just cutting out different shapes.

I will be back with a new card using Lauren's sketch on Saturday, if not before!

Thanks for stopping by.

Spring flowers in Winter

2008-12-06T08:36:00.004-06:00

I had wanted to get this post up much sooner, but I was having some internet issues, so it is a late entry into the Saturday Sketch challenge.

I decided to use Lauren's sketch challenge, and Kristina's colour challenge for this card.

Here is the sketch:

And the colour challenge:

If you get a chance, I would love to see what you come up with for these challenges. Be sure to link back here with your card. And check out the rest of the FABULOUS sketch team.

Lauren Meader http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com

Maria Levine http://riacreations.blogspot.com/

Dawn Easton http://www.TreasureOilerDesignz.blogspot.com/

Kirsten Dubosque www.kirstendubosque.blogspot.com

Kristy Vernon http://www.kvernon.blogspot.com

Kim Gasper http://stampinintherain.blogspot.com
MacKenzie Bruckler http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/

Alicia Weimen http://happystamp.blogspot.com/

sketch #14 from Lauren M

2008-12-06T08:33:00.000-06:00

I will be back in a couple of hours with my card for the sketch challenge. check back then!

Quick Card, Quick Post

2008-11-29T07:40:00.005-06:00

This was a super quick card, and will be a really quick post as I am out the door for meetings all day.

Here is the sketch that Lauren gave us.

She also gave a few instructions. The flowers are meant to be any flourish, and the vertical piece is hanging ribbon or cardstock.

Here is the card that I came up with.

I am in Christmas mode trying to get all of my Christmas cards ready to put in the mail within the next week. This card came together REALLY quickly. Under 15 minutes. That must be some sort of record for me. DH even commented when I showed him the completed card "wow, that was fast".

I love making holiday cards that don't use traditional colours, and I wanted to use some of that luscious Chocolate Chip satin ribbon. The snowflake is a plastic ornament that came in a package of 25 for a dollar at Dollarama. What a bargain!

As always, please check out the rest of the sketch challenge team. And we would love to have you play along.

Keep in mind the sketch is just inspiration to get you going, you don't have to follow it exactly.

Lauren Meader http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com

Maria Levine http://riacreations.blogspot.com/

Dawn Easton http://www.TreasureOilerDesignz.blogspot.com/

Kirsten Dubosque www.kirstendubosque.blogspot.com

Kristy Vernon http://www.kvernon.blogspot.com

Kim Gasper http://stampinintherain.blogspot.com
MacKenzie Bruckler http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/

Alicia Weimen http://happystamp.blogspot.com/

Fantastic alterable chadelier/mobile

2008-11-28T15:38:00.004-06:00

Do you want a chance to win this?

What is it you ask? It is sneak peak a SUPER CUTE Do it Yourself chandelier that you can buy here, or win here. This is absolutely perfect for all of us paper crafters because the options are endless. Sure, it comes with pink glitter, but you don't have to use that if you don't want to.

Take a look at how Kristina decorated a similar mobile for her soon to be niece.

If that's not enough, she is also giving away one set of pdf downloads for the pillow boxes and the calendar here.

Go, NOW to enter to win, and to look for yourself at the great options available for you on Etsy.

Stocking Stuffer

2008-11-22T07:17:00.007-06:00

This week Lauren challenged us to use her Stocking Stuffer Template from the PTI My Timeless Templates collection. This is a FREE download, so there is no excuse not to try this and join in.

I downloaded Lauren's template as soon as it was available, but this is the first time I have actually used it. I guess sometimes it takes a challenge to get my butt in gear.

This is the gift package I made with the template. I decided to use more traditional colours so I pulled out my retired Cranberry Crisp and Truely Thyme and got to work. I printed the template out on each colour, so now I can go back and make another stocking that is the same, but with the opposite colours for the body, and the toe, heel, and top.

The top "cuff" is fuzzy because I used my two way glue pen, and added some fun flock. I love how you can still kind of see the red coming through the fun flock.

I also used my scor-pal to create the faux quilting so that it would have a more traditional feel to the stocking.

I adhered my "box" between the stockings right at the top, so that the goodies could be well seen. Unfortunately, that caused the gift to be top heavy, and it kept trying to fall over. I solved that by creating two braces out of some of the excess paper.

Now my stocking is super secure.

I knew I wanted to sew the toe and heel pieces on to my stocking,

but I also wanted the stitching to be evenly spaced, and I didn't want it to be impossible to sew through two layers of card stock.

So I first pierced the paper using this great plastic canvas piercing guide that Alli sent me when I bought some of her old stamps. Thanks Alli!

I made this all up last night while I was watching TV, so these templates are really easy to use. Please take a look at what the others on the sketch team have done, then download your own template, and share your creation with us!

Lauren Meader http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com

Maria Levine http://riacreations.blogspot.com/

Dawn Easton http://www.TreasureOilerDesignz.blogspot.com/

Kirsten Dubosque www.kirstendubosque.blogspot.com

Kristy Vernon http://www.kvernon.blogspot.com

Kim Gasper http://stampinintherain.blogspot.com
MacKenzie Bruckler http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/

Alicia Weimen http://happystamp.blogspot.com/

High Hopes

2008-11-10T09:11:00.003-06:00

I am in the process of placing my *first* ever order for High Hopes stamps. Their images are ADORABLE, and look like so much fun to colour. Every week there is a designer blog hop, with one designer having blog candy to give away. This week, you can find it here , but you should really check out all of the designers because their creations are AWESOME!! I will be back with some High Hopes cards once my new stamps arrive!

Thanks Sew Much

2008-11-08T11:06:00.005-06:00

I missed out on Lauren's sketch challenge last week because I was in Quebec at national meetings. There were some amazing people that were really kind to me, and I wanted to send them some thank you cards, so I used this week's sketch to start those cards.

I used PTI's Quilter's Sampler, and it wasn't until I went to add the sentiment that I realized there wasn't a "thanks sew much" sentiment, so I had to write it in.

I am going to mass produce these for all of the super helpful people I met at the national meetings, but I don't know if I will colour in the other ones, or just use the stamped images. It was really easy since the quilt blocks fit perfectly within a 3/4 inch punch.

The background is stamped with the scissors and thread from the same set in versamark.

Make sure you check out all of the other participants in Lauren's sketch challenge, and we would love to have you join us!

Lauren Meader http://laurenmblogs.splitcoaststampers.com

Maria Levine http://riacreations.blogspot.com/

Dawn Easton http://www.TreasureOilerDesignz.blogspot.com/

Kirsten Dubosque www.kirstendubosque.blogspot.com

Kristy Vernon http://www.kvernon.blogspot.com

Kim Gasper http://stampinintherain.blogspot.com
MacKenzie Bruckler http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/

Alicia Weimen http://happystamp.blogspot.com/

Blog Hop!

2008-10-25T18:45:00.004-06:00

It's Blog Hop Time!!!

I completely forgot that today was the 25th, until this morning. The theme today was Polka Dots, and although I don't have Polka Dot Basics, I do have Shapes by Design.

I was at a conference all day, so I knew I had to do something quick!

I instantly thought of Claire's Three Kings pattern. Claire is in love with PTI, and she is an AMAZING inspiration. I think that Claire and Lauren Meader are two of my favourite blogs to visit!

I was in such a rush today that I stamped the wrong side of the printed pattern.

I decided that instead of re-stamping the entire sheet, I would somehow cover up the lines.

This is what I came up with.

I went around all of the horizontal lines, and the points with Liquid Appliqué, then puffed it up. I wish I would have had more time to make a matching card, or add some embellishments, but over all, I am pleased with how this turned out.

I love the dimension of the LA on the tag that is also popped up on a pop dot.

Do yourself a favour, and visit Claire's blog to gain some amazing inspiration, and to try your own Three Kings gift box.

Pink challenge *3

2008-10-25T01:00:00.000-06:00

WOW!! I have been so busy with work and all of my volunteer activities, and it seems like FOREVER that I have had the time to stamp. So, in order to get my mojo flowing again, I used some challenges so that most of the thinking was done for me.

This card actually fulfills *three* separate challenges! First, Lauren's Saturday Sketch, second, Kristina's Colour challenge, and third, the Limited Supply Challenge on SCS.

Here is the sketch:

here are the colours:

And the SCS Limited supply challenge was to use a leaf stamp or punch, and include pink somewhere on your card.

I think my card fulfilled all of these challenges!

The card base is made with Purely Pomegranate paper (SU, retired). The first layer of "paper" is a paper towel dyed with some diluted ink, and crumpled to add a distressed look. The leaves are stamped in Pixie Pink, Rose Red, and Pink Passion using the maple leaf from Autumn Fest (SU, retired) It's hard to tell, but the leaves are stamped on pink designer paper from SU.

I chose the sentiment because all of the leaves are maple leaves, and being canadian, that is a source of pride for me. The sentiment comes from The Great Canadian Stamp Set from CHF.

I wanted to keep the distressed feeling that often comes with falling leaves and autumn, so I distressed all of the edges of the punched pieces. I even dragged the sentiment block over my Purely Pomegranate ink pad.

I hope you will play along with the challenges, particularily Lauren's sketch challenge! You can find even more inspiration for Lauren's Saturday Sketch by visiting the rest of the sketch team.

Lauren Meader http://laurenmblogs.splitcoaststampers.com

Maria Levine http://riacreations.blogspot.com/

Dawn Easton http://www.TreasureOilerDesignz.blogspot.com/

Kirsten Dubosque www.kirstendubosque.blogspot.com

Kristy Vernon http://www.kvernon.blogspot.com

Kim Gasper http://stampinintherain.blogspot.com
MacKenzie Bruckler http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/

Alicia Weimen http://happystamp.blogspot.com/

Sketch-tastic!

2008-10-04T08:35:00.006-06:00

Here we go again!

I am really sorry for my absence, but I started a new job 2 weeks ago, and it has thrown my whole routine out of whack. For the past 10 months I have not been working outside of the home, so I had LOTS of time to stamp, clean, cook and all those other things that need to be done, but now that I am working I am scrambling to fit everything in, and unfortunately, it is the stamping that is suffering the most.

Anyways, I am back this week with Lauren's sketch challenge, and I think I am settling into a routine somewhat.

For my card I used the crayon resist technique. Gina K did a few GREAT cards using this technique a few days ago, and I loved her cards, so this has been in my brain for a while.

The stamps are from CHF, the punch is retired from SU and I hand wrote the greeting.

As always, please visit the rest of the sketch team, and play along yourself and share a link so that we can all see what you have made.

Lauren Meader http://laurenmblogs.splitcoaststampers.com

Maria Levine http://riacreations.blogspot.com/

Dawn Easton http://www.TreasureOilerDesignz.blogspot.com/

Kirsten Dubosque www.kirstendubosque.blogspot.com

Kristy Vernon http://www.kvernon.blogspot.com

Kim Gasper http://stampinintherain.blogspot.com
MacKenzie Bruckler http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/

Alicia Weimen http://happystamp.blogspot.com/

Back on track with Lauren's Sketch Challenge

2008-09-13T01:00:00.001-06:00

Last week I missed out on Lauren's sketch challenge because I had so much going on. This week though, I needed a thank you card for a friend that hosted a party at her house on Friday night, so I used Lauren's sketch as the inspiration. It's kind of hard to see, but this is a regular sized card, with a white background in the sketch.

I actually had some troubles with this sketch because I wanted to tie all the pieces together, but I didn't want to stamp too much because I was in a bit of a hurry. The paper from Stampin' Up! was the perfect solution. The colours all go together, and the only stamping is the "thank you" from Kim Hughes' set U R a Hoot.

I am realizing more and more that I *love* Purely Pomegranate paper, and I wish I would have ordered more before it was retired.

Please check out the great creations of all of the other members of the sketch team, and if you upload to SCS or any other online galleries, use the keyword mytimess05.

Lauren Meader http://laurenmblogs.splitcoaststampers.com

Maria Levine http://riacreations.blogspot.com/

Dawn Easton http://www.TreasureOilerDesignz.blogspot.com/

Kirsten Dubosque www.kirstendubosque.blogspot.com

Kristy Vernon http://www.kvernon.blogspot.com

Kim Gasper http://stampinintherain.blogspot.com
MacKenzie Bruckler http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/

Alicia Weimen http://happystamp.blogspot.com/

Have a Hoot!

2008-09-12T15:51:00.006-06:00

I love Beate's sketches, and I am glad that I had the time to get one in today. A friend of mine is having a birthday party tonight, and he is a bird watcher, so I pulled out my Out on a Limb and Wise Owl stamps from PTI to create a birthday card.

Here is Beate's sketch,

but in order to use the branch more effectively, I turned the sketch 90 degrees so that it looks like this.

I stamped the branch in chocolate chip, then the owl, also in chocolate chip on kraft cardstock. I masked the owl, then stamped the leaves in Really Rust. I pulled the colours from the paper, and think that they work really well for a masculin card.

If you play along, be sure to include the keyword WSC57 so that it can be easily found in any online galleries.

Cherry sketch

2008-08-30T10:17:00.005-06:00

This will be a really quick post. as I am trying to clean my craft room today.

Here is Lauren's sketch for this week.

And here is my card.

Again, if you want to play along, please leave a comment here, or on Lauren's blog. Or, if you upload to an online gallery, use the KEYWORD mytimess03 .

And, be sure to check out all of the other talented ladies that have made cards for Lauren's sketch.

Lauren Meader http://laurenmblogs.splitcoaststampers.com

Maria Levine http://riacreations.blogspot.com/

Dawn Easton http://www.TreasureOilerDesignz.blogspot.com/

Kirsten Dubosque www.kirstendubosque.blogspot.com

Kristy Vernon http://www.kvernon.blogspot.com

Kim Gasper http://stampinintherain.blogspot.com
MacKenzie Bruckler http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/

Alicia Weimen http://happystamp.blogspot.com/

Birthday Blues

2008-08-23T08:07:00.006-06:00

Once again it's time for Lauren's sketch challenge. This time, I had to make a gift for a friend of mine who is just starting out as a teacher. I made the gift first, and then the card, so that is how I will show them here :)

Lauren is a big believer in gift sets, so she was part of my inspiration for this gift. I wanted something fairly quick to make, and not too "girlie" since the recipient isn't into bows or glitter so I focussed on using graphic elements and only one colour.

I took 10 sheets of regular printer paper and cut it in half to have 20 sheets of 5.5 * 8.5. I then stamped the circles from Shapes by Design in Brilliant blue along the long side. This is one of my favourite "go to" sets when I want a graphic element and not an image. I stamped the same image on the left side of 10 envelopes to coordinate them.

The pen is one I bought at the dollar store that fit well with the colour scheme. I also added some stamps and some envelope seals.

I wanted to use some small metal tins with clear covers, but the only ones I had were the wrong size, and there isn't a Lee Valley in Regina, so I went on a search at the dollar store to see if I could find a container that would work. I took my tape measure and it didn't matter what was in the container, as long as it was the right size. I ended up getting coloured staples in these containers.

There were five different colours for $1.00, so I got five containers, and used 4 of them. Two have regular domestic stamps, one has international stamps, and the fourth has non-traditional envelope seals in it.

The seals (see photo above) are cut to 1 * 1.75 from a printable sticky label that is a full sheet size, and stamped with the initials of the recipient, LF. To finish them off, I sponged them with Brilliant Blue Ink.

After making this gift, I wanted the card to also have some graphic elements and not be too busy so that it would coordinate.

This is Lauren's sketch, and here is my card.

The paper is from the Azure paper pack from Stampin' Up!, and the sentiment is stamped using Just Right stamps in Brilliant Blue onto Very Vanilla cardstock. I had originally tried the sentiment with white paper, but it was too stark on the card, and the vanilla blended in much better. The buttons were a last minute addition because the card looked too plain without them. As much as I wanted the card to be somewhat basic, and not too busy, I didn't want it to be boring ;)

All in all I think the card and gift set look good together and I am quite pleased with them.

Please check out other cards made by the other members of the sketch team.

Lauren Meader http://laurenmblogs.splitcoaststampers.com

Maria Levine http://riacreations.blogspot.com/

Dawn Easton http://www.TreasureOilerDesignz.blogspot.com/

Kirsten Dubosque www.kirstendubosque.blogspot.com

Kristy Vernon http://www.kvernon.blogspot.com

Kim Gasper http://stampinintherain.blogspot.com
MacKenzie Bruckler http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/

Alicia Weimen http://happystamp.blogspot.com/

Also, if you want to participate, we would love to see your card! Add a link in the comment section, and if you want to upload to SCS, visit Lauren's blog for the keyword so that we can find your great creations.

Thoughts of you

2008-08-22T10:07:00.003-06:00

Beate is one of the all time superstars in the papercrafting industry, and after a summer hiatus she is back with a weekly sketch challenge. I combined Beate's sketch with Kristina's colour challenge to come up with this card.

Unfortunately the photo isn't very good because it is raining and overcast here so I couldn't get a good natural light shot.

Here is the sketch I worked with.

And here is Kristina's colour inspiration.

She said we could use any colour of our choice as the accent, but I took the stool as my cue and used Purely Pomegranate. I may have used too much colour, but I tried and tried to stamp a rose in grey and black but it didn't turn out.

I still think that the black and grey are the focus, but the Pomegranate rose and ribbon add a nice pop. The rose is stamped using Maria's fabulous multi-step Kitchen Sink Stamps. I have no idea how she gets them to look so realistic, but they are GREAT!

Better late than never...

2008-08-16T17:51:00.003-06:00

I had all intentions of getting this post up on time, particularly since Lauren sent out this sketch with LOTS of time. But, as sometimes is the case, life got in the way.

My sister left for England on Thursday, and the week leading up to her departure was full of packing and organizing since she is going to be gone for a whole year.

The other factor in my late posting is that I forgot that white craft ink takes FOREVER to dry.

Here is the sketch we had to work with.

I just recently received my Father Knows Best stamps from PaperTrey, and I wanted to show them some ink. Also, I thought this sketch would be a perfect time to finally use some square buttons that I have had for months.

In addition to the tree from Father Knows Best, I also used the circles and sentiment from Shapes by Design.

The tree was stamped on Kraft cardstock with white craft ink, and then cut out with my coluzzle. The edges were inked as well, and that is what was taking soooo long to dry. The circles from Shapes by Design were stamped in VersaMark on the Kraft base, and covered with velum paper. I was able to hide the velum adhesive under the Chocolate Chip ribbon, the two buttons, and then I only needed small dabs of adhesive under the corners.

In this close up you can see that I stamped some of the extra circles and cut them out to add some depth and dimension. The paper is adhered to the back of the buttons with Crystal Effects, and the twine helps tie in with the Kraft paper.

Make sure you check out all of the other members of Lauren's sketch team.

Lauren Meader http://laurenmblogs.splitcoaststampers.com

Maria Levine http://riacreations.blogspot.com/

Dawn Easton http://www.TreasureOilerDesignz.blogspot.com/

Kirsten Dubosque www.kirstendubosque.blogspot.com

Kristy Vernon http://www.kvernon.blogspot.com

Kim Gasper http://stampinintherain.blogspot.com
MacKenzie Bruckler http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/

Alicia Weimen http://happystamp.blogspot.com/

Lauren's Saturday sketch

2008-08-09T08:47:00.002-06:00

Sorry it's been a week since my last post went up. I was at the lake for a week from last Wednesday to just a few days ago. I had programmed the sketch challenge to go up on Saturday, and I am glad it all worked out. Now I am on my way out to a wedding out of town, so I won't spend too much time describing this card, but I may come back and edit it when we get back on Sunday.

Here is Lauren's sketch, and I used it to make a wedding card that I needed for today.

A close up of the embossed LOVE sentiment.

The same theme of ribbon, velum, and stamped daisies carried through to the inside of the card.

Make sure you also check out the blogs of all of the other sketch team members. (also linked to in my sidebar)

Lauren Meader http://laurenmblogs.splitcoaststampers.com

Maria Levine http://riacreations.blogspot.com/

Dawn Easton http://www.TreasureOilerDesignz.blogspot.com/

Kirsten Dubosque www.kirstendubosque.blogspot.com

Kristy Vernon http://www.kvernon.blogspot.com

Kim Gasper http://stampinintherain.blogspot.com
MacKenzie Bruckler http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/

Alicia Weimen http://happystamp.blogspot.com/

Saturday Sketch

2008-08-02T06:00:00.004-06:00

As I mentioned last week, the fabulous Lauren Meader does a sketch challenge every Saturday, and I have not been as active in participating as I should have been. From now on though, you will definately see a card I have made using Lauren's sketch every Saturday because I am one of the bloggers that will be providing you with a sample using her sketch.

Check out all of the creations from the sketch Challenge Team to get their take on the sketch. (they are also all listed on my side bar)

Alicia Weimen
Maria Levine
Dawn Easton
Kirsten Dubosque
Kristy Vernon
Kim Gasper
Mackenzie Bruckler

Hopefully by having more samples she (and we) can get more people participating in the challenge.

Here is the sketch from this week.

When I first saw it I thought of the lines as frames, and not colour blocks. It also made me think of a favourite painting I have in my house.

So I used the colours from the painting, and the sketch from Lauren to come up with this card.

The card base is Barely Banana with frames in Rose Red, Old Olive, Ballet Blue, and Chocolate Chip. The stamp was also inspired by the painting, and was from the $1.00 bin at Michael's. The highlighted martini is coloured with my Spica Glitter Pens and it gives it such a nice shine.

Please play along with this challenge, and if you do, be sure to link back in the comments here, and on Lauren's blog.

Granny on a mission

2008-07-29T08:50:00.003-06:00

Here is the second card that I completed for the Gina K release party sketch challenges. This sketch is really simple, and allows you to focus on the image.

I had a granny already stamped out and mostly coloured from a swap I did months ago, so I pulled her out and used that as my focal point on this card. I love the granny from You know you're old when... set. The whole set is hilarious and fun to play with.

I kind of feel like something is missing, so I think I will go back and add a sentiment to the bottom right of the card, but on the whole I really like this clean look.

You can check out all the other entries for this sketch here.

Bleach, bleach and more bleach

2008-07-28T10:00:00.004-06:00

Gina K releases new stamp sets every month, and there is a party in the forum at SCS. This month I was busy when the sets were released, and I almost forgot all about the sketch challenges that coincide with the release. So, I put my butt in gear, and completed three challenge cards this morning to try and get them in under the deadline.

The first one I did was a sketch from the fabulous Erika Martin.

I actually used quite a bit of Erika's influence on this card. I created an "ink pad" with paper towels and some bleach, and stamped the flowers from tag, you're it on real red cardstock using the bleach. I waited to see what colour would appear, and used that as my card base. I also swiped my red panel across the bleach pad after distressing the edges to add some more depth and a more distressed look.

The frame, and Thanks are also from tag, you're it and are stamped in real red on barely banana cardstock. The prima flower was yellow, and I wet it, then traced around the petals with my red Stampin' Up marker and let the colours bleed together.

You can find all of the cards made using this sketch here.

Bella Birthday

2008-07-27T11:31:00.003-06:00

My cousin moved away from home a couple of months ago for the first time to get a "real job" and her birthday was on Tuesday last week, so I sent her this card.

I paper pieced the dress, top and pants and coloured in the rest with SU markers. The charm and stamp are from Stamping Bella. I only realized now, as I am posting this on my blog, that I didn't take a close up shot of the paper piecing to show you how it looks.

I don't think I have ever used Groovy Guava paper before, but I like the way it works with the Purely Pomegranate designer paper.

I also purchased a Tim Horton's gift card and created a gift card holder using my slit punch and stuck it inside the card.

It's never too early to make Christmas cards

2008-07-26T12:06:00.003-06:00

The FABULOUS Lauren Meader posts a sketch challenge every Saturday, and I think this is the first one I have actually done. I *love* reading Lauren's blog not only because she is an amazingly talented designer, but also because of the emotion that goes into every post, and the way she draws people into her world.

Here is the sketch from this week.

You can find Lauren's card here.

I decided it is never too early to make Christmas cards, and I had these cute snowflake brads that would work instead of buttons, so here is my blue snowflake card.

The card base is Soft Sky, the matting is Night of Navy, and the one inch strip is Brilliant Blue. I stamped the snowflakes in Versamark, and embossed with white embossing powder. Then I sponged on ink in all three colours on the card (Sky, Navy and Brilliant Blue). I used a tissue to polish the paper, and remove the ink from the embossed images.

When I was photographing my card I noticed that this sketch also looks really good turned sideways.

Thanks for stopping by! If you try this sketch make sure you post a link on Lauren's blog.

Velum! (PTI blog hop)

2008-07-25T16:12:00.006-06:00

I have wanted to get in on the PTI blog hop since it first began, but I always forget what day it is, and I miss out. Today, I am ready with not only 1, but *2* velum projects to share. :)

This first velum project is the second card I needed to make for a board member that has decided to step down after years of service to the community association.

I stamped the leaf from Text Boxed in Thyme (SU, retired) ink. Then, I traced the image with a stylus and "popped" the image. The image is turned over, and attached to a piece of River Rock cardstock. Then I attached some Purely Pomegranate stitched ribbon, and stamped Thanks, also from Text Boxed below the image.

The card base is Thyme cardstock, and has the smaller leaf stamped off once with Thyme ink to create a subtle background.

This card is fairly simple, but I really like the cleanness of it.

My second project is a tea light candle holder for my sister's wedding. Her colours are chocolate brown and pink.

I took a sheet of velum cardstock, and cut it into 2 pieces (4.25 * 9) and stamped the circles from Shapes by Design in Chocolate on the velum. Then I scored both pieces at 2,4,6,8. I coloured the intersections, and the full circles on the opposite side of the velum using a Pixie Pink marker (SU). I did not colour anything on the small 1" section because that would be taped on the inside to close the box. There isn't actually a bottom to this, so it's easy to light the candle and place these over top.

It's hard to see, but I used stickles to put glitter on the full circles to add just a bit of *bling*.

This is what it looks like without a candle, still a nice decoration. :)

Thanks

2008-07-25T15:06:00.002-06:00

Every Friday Amy R posts a sketch, and this week I not only had time to play along, but a need make a Thank You card. I am on the community association board in my neighbourhood, and this year we had two board members step down after very long contributions to the association.
This is the first card I made. The second one will go up in a few hours as part of the PTI blog hop.

The image is stamped using the retired Doodle This set from SU in versamark, and embossed in clear powder. Then, I sponged on Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi, and Orange ink (the same colours as the designer paper). Once it was fully sponged I wiped it off with a tissue, and the embossed flowers pop.

The sentiment is popped up with a super sticky pop dot from Jody Morrow (texasjodylynn). I *love* these pop dots. If you have trouble with your cards shifting, contact Jody. Her black boosters will not move!

I hope you like this card, and will be back for my velum card in a few hours....

2008-06-29T12:30:00.002-06:00

These great stamps, and TWO sets of greetings that coordinate can be yours!

Go HERE for a chance to win.

Gina K sketches

2008-05-21T10:39:00.005-06:00

Last night was the Gina K release party in their member forum at SCS. I joined late, and only stayed for about 30 minutes, but the pages of comments were flying up. This morning I was able to get some time to look at the sketch challenges, and complete all three :)

My coluzzle got quite the workout with the first two sketches.

Sketch 1 by Julie Koerber (Out to Impress)

I really like how this turned out with the band of "thanks". The scallops are circles that are punched out and taped to the back of the circle. The thanks stamp is from Papertrey, and the flower pot is from Gina K.

Sketch 2 by Erika Martin (Stampin Mama)

When I saw Erica's sketch I immidiately thought that the round bum of the hippo would fit in with the oval card she had designed.

I curved the sentiment from the Just so Hippy set to make it fit along the oval. I would have like to have curved it a bit more, but it wouldn't stay.

I stamped a second hippo and cut out the hips and popped them up to add dimension. I couldn't find my white gel pen, so I used my liquid applique to colour the tooth and toenails.

Sketch 3 by Joanne B. (Stamped by Hand)

Joanne's sample was very masculine, and I not only used the sketch, but her sample as inspiration.

Stampers often say it is difficult to make masculine cards, but this one was easy-peasy. The image is stamped with brown ink on Kraft cardstock. No colouring needed, as it fits with the simple and two-toned card.

This is a view from the top to show that the card is like a book where the jumbo brads create the binding, and the card opens from inside the line of brads.

2008-05-16T08:17:00.003-06:00

My good friend JCQ completed her education degree in April, and just found out that she has a contract for next year. I made this card for her to celebrate her first "real" job as a teacher. My sister is also a teacher, so I actually bought this this stamp set for her, but she is in the process of moving so it's at my house right now. How fortuitous.

I used my SU markers on all of these stamps so that I could easily use different colours, and so that there would be a bit of a distressed look once the image was stamped.

The charm was bought from Stamping Bella to be used with Teachabella, but I think it works really well on this card.

Belated Mother's Day

2008-05-14T12:01:00.004-06:00

I recently got an order from Rubbernecker, and although most of the stamps I ordered were from the "old characters" collection, I also picked out two stained glass flowers.

This card was made by stamping the image on velum paper with versamark, then embossing with black powder. I used my SU markers, coloured on a CD, and used a paint brush to water colour the image. Then I created a black border out of cardstock, and used glue dots to stick it to the velum cardstock base. I wanted to be able to still have the light shine through the stained glass, and the velum card base is perfect.

I will be giving this card to Deron's mom this weekend when she comes to town to celebrate his birthday. I should have sent it to her for Mother's day, but I was falling behind, and decided just to hang on to it until I would see her in person.

Stamping Bloggers ROCK!!

2008-05-13T15:51:00.005-06:00

A while ago I won some blog candy on Lisa Strahl's blog. I had actually forgot about it, until last week this arrived in the mail.

Not only did it have this great backgrounder from CHF, but also flowers, pins, inchies, tags and this fabulous card.

She was thankful for my patience in waiting for the blog candy, but *I* am the one who is thankful for the awesome treats!

Although I should probably make a card using some of my new supplies, I am sending her this card that I made during the last CHF release party.

I hope she likes it :)

Mother's Day for Grandma

2008-04-10T14:31:00.005-06:00

I have been waiting for a couple of weeks for this stamp set from Kitchen Sink Stamps. I have no idea how Maria does it, but the detail of the layering of her stamps is unbelievable. They look so real once they are stamped.

This is the card I am going to send to my grandma for mother's day.

I played with the stamps immediately once they arrived. I stamped this rose using only Purely Pomegranate ink, stamped off twice, then once, then at full strength.

The sentiment "Grandmother" is from Women of Life from PTI. One of my favourite things about acrylic stamps is that they are flexible. I was able to create the curve in the word to follow the oval I cut using my coluzzle.

The Certainly Celery oval was cut with the coluzzle one size larger than the designer paper, then trimmed with some of my very old, and sadly neglected, scalloped scissors.

The card base is 4 1/2 by 4 1/2 Not Quite Navy. The photo makes it look more purple, but it really is blue in real life.

Colour Combo Challenge

2008-04-09T07:56:00.004-06:00

It has once again been a while since I have updated my blog. I am still creating, but I don't always take the time to upload my photos.

Kristina's colour challenge kicked my butt into gear this week to get something posted.

The inspiration came from this photo from West Elm.

I didn't use any of the design elements as inspiration, but I did use most of the colours.

This card base is 41/4 by 51/2 Old Olive with the fold at the top. Then I have Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, and Very Vanilla layers each 1/4 of an inch smaller.

The image is stamped in both Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip to create a bit of a shadow.

The flowers are stamped with Taken with Teal, and I had some primas that fit with the colour and shape perfectly, so I added those too.

I used Stardust Stickles in the centres of all of the flowers (stamped, and primas). The ribbon is the 5/8 Old Olive grosgrain from Stampin Up. I wanted to include a sentiment, but It just didn't fit on the card.

Mother's Day Swap

2008-03-31T08:48:00.004-06:00

I was at a wedding over the weekend, and I should have posted these before I left, but I ran out of time.

Both of these were done for a swap on SCS. The photos are not great because I was taking them early in the morning, so I didn't have any natural light. I wanted to get photos before I shipped them off to the swap hostess.

Challenging Colour Challenge

2008-03-27T08:25:00.007-06:00

I don't know how I found Kristina Werner, but I *LOVE* her Make a Card Monday videos, and I have been following her blog for about a month or so. Recently she started posting colour challenges, and this is the first one that I have completed.

The combo came from this photo from Pier One.

Translated into SU colours we have Orchid Opulence, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red, Basic Black and Whisper White.

I found this colour combo to be particularly hard because I don't like Orchid Opulence. It's not a colour I use very often, and it's the only colour in which I haven't bought a full pack of paper.

I knew I wanted to use one of my new sets from the Occasions Mini, so I chose Tart and Tangy since the orange could be pumpkin pie, and the cherries, or the strawberry would look good in rose red.

This is a very plain card for me, but I really struggled with the colours, and didn't know what else to add.

The sentiment is from the rub ons also available in the Occasions Mini.

Paper Trey blog hop

2008-03-25T15:59:00.004-06:00

Nichole and the rest of the Paper Trey gang have come up with a really cool way to get inspired and see some amazing paper creations. They are starting a monthly feature called the Blog Hop. Unfortunately I was too slow in registering my blog to be included this month (the deadline was the 23rd), so I am not *officially* part of the blog hop process. However, it's my birthday, so I have decided that I can participate anyways. :)

The idea was to use ribbon as a focal point, and at least one Paper Trey product. Although I am not sure I actually achieved that, I did use lots of ribbon on this card.

I *love* the Text Boxed set, and it was great fun to pull it out for this challenge. This is the stamp set that got me hooked on Paper Trey. The sentiment is from Alli Miles' first set Shapes by Design. I thought the sans serif font complemented the lines of the ribbon, and the stamps.

This is the first time I have ever made a card that folds along the short end, and I really like how it turned out.

Thanks for "blog hopping" by, and I will be back tomorrow with some swap cards I made a few weeks ago.

Easter Greetings

2008-03-25T10:21:00.006-06:00

I was in Saskatoon visiting my family over Easter, and I should have posted these before I left, but I ran out of time.

These are the cards I gave to my family this weekend.

These two cards use the He is Risen set from Gina K. The first card was inspired by the card posted by Melanie during the release party held on SCS. It is stamped on a cropped photo that Deron took. The second card really reminds me of the wood of the cross with the sanded background and the earthy colours.

This card uses the Baskets of Happiness set, also from Gina K. I don't have nestabilites, or a square punch that is the right size for the scalloped square punch that I have, so the image was cut out with my paper cutter, then the corners rounded with the SU corner rounder punch. It was coloured with SU markers.

These three cards were all done with Melanie's set Just so Hoppy! I am loving this set. I had so much fun using fun flock on the chicks and the bunny. Deron's favourite card of the whole lot is the second card with the chicks that has them dancing on the grass. I really like the texture on that card, but my favourite is the bunny card. I love the basket handle being thread through the bunny's hand, and the two colours of brown to make it look like the basket is woven, and the flock on the bunny, and finally, the way the paper matches the flower embellishment perfectly.

Lastly, this card was made with sets that are not from Gina K. Crazy, huh?

The background is made by smooshing pale plum, and perfect plum ink on opposite sides of a plastic report cover, then closing them together, re-opening and putting glossy cardstock in between. It creates a bit of a marbled look. The stems are from the Garden Whimsy set from SU, and the grass is created by removing the cross hairs from the wide Old Olive grosgrain ribbon.

I hope you enjoy these somewhat delayed Easter greetings, and I will be back later today with a ribbon based card using Paper Trey stamps.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

2008-03-10T09:11:00.004-06:00

It has been a REALLY long time since I posted, but I have still been creating in the background. I had a craft fair to prepare for, and I have been doing research into the stamping industry to see if there would be a market for a store in my area.

Hopefully some of this is slowing down, so I will have more time to post my cards (and clean up my horribly messy craft room).

This card was made with Women of Life one of the PTI stamps released last month.