Tuesday 23 October 2012

Dawn


My sister hates getting older, always has, always will, so I had to get a little dig in lol - that's what older sisters do.  And the fact that I do it well is just the way it goes :)

My sister loves birds and humming birds in particular and I wanted to make her a pretty card that she would like.  The verse I had seen on someone else's card a while ago, but I didn't bookmark it at the time.  My card is different from theirs, but I did use their words, so - if it's from your card - thank you so very much for the inspiration and I fully acknowledge that the words are not mine!

The card itself is a 5x7 made from Recollections - Kraft paper.  The designer paper with the birds is Kissing Booth - Oh Darling!  I sponged around the bird paper with SU - Chocolate Chip.

The next layer is popped up.  I used SB - Fleur De Lis Rectangles and cut it from Kraft paper.  The musical designer paper on this layer is BoBunny - Et Cetra Symphony.  I sponged the edges with Chocolate Chip before adhering it to the Fleur De Lis. 

The next layer is also popped up.  I used SB - Labels Eighteen and SU - Very Vanilla to cut out this third layer.  With the Spellbinder still in place around the cut paper, I sponged very softly around the edges with Chocolate Chip and then when you take the die off you have a cool border around it.  The photo is making it look like the papers are white, but it reality, they are cream coloured and very vanilla.  The verse on this layer was computer generated.

The leaves are SU - Little Leaves cut from SU - Chocolate Chip and the cream coloured organza ribbon is from Michael's.  The little metal humming bird is also from Michael's, Bead Landing - Found Objects.  This is a package of metal bird charms and they are just sweet.  So I put the little hummer on some baker's twine and looped it around the bow.  I put a glue dot on the back of the bird and fixed it to the card so he could always be seen rather than flop around.  The baker's twine is Sew Easy - Cream Soda.


Here is the inside of the card!  It's so perfect.  Made very simply, SB - Labels Eighteen and SU - Very Vanilla.  Again, the paper was sponged with Chocolate Chip while the Spellbinder was still in place.  The verse was computer generated.

Thanks for visiting :)



All Hallow's Eve!



I had so much fun making this Halloween card! I made 5 last night and put them in the mail this morning :) and I have another one, different design, on my card table now.  Love Halloween!!

So, this card starts with a 5x7 black cardstock base.  The black cardstock is Recollections and the designer paper is SU - Pick Your Poison.  The edges of the desinger paper I distressed with a Tim Holtz tool.  The witch, the spider, and the Halloween sentiment are from Inkadinkadoo - All Hallow's Eve.  This is a great collection of clear stamps.  All the stamping was done with Stazon - Jet Black.


The sentiment is stamped on yellow cardstock - just some I had in my collection.  The bottom edge is cut with deckle scissors and was sponged all around with Stazon - Jet Black.  I matted it on black cardstock and cut the bottom edge with the deckle scissors to match the yellow.  This is popped up on the card.


The black flowers and leaves were all cut using dies and glued in place.  The branch is Memory Box - Woodland Branch.  The fern is Memory Box - Gentle Leaf.  The vine is Cheery Lynn - Fanciful Flourish and the flowers are SB - Rose Creations.  I shaped the flowers using the end of a paint brush and a soft mouse pad.  Lavender half pearls were added to the centers.  The sparkley ghost and pumpkin are fun foam shapes that I had picked up from somewhere, I just don't remember where, lol.  And the white pumpkin with the design on it is Jolee's Boutique - White Pumpkins.  There are 12 pumpkins in the package and they all have different designs on them, they're great.


The inside was fun to do too!  I found part of the verse on the internet and made part of it up myself, then the whole thing was generated on the computer.  The "Happy Halloween" is SU - Haunted Forest.

Thanks for stopping by and having a look :)

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Snow Bird

This is the first new Christmas card I've made this fall :)  I had such a good afternoon making it, I love this time of year. 

The card is a 6x6" card of red Bazzill cardstock.  I actually made it 1/4" smaller so that it will fit in a 6" envelope.  There is a layer of blue Bazzill too - sorry I don't have the names of the colours.  The red plaid is Recollections - Frosty Cabin.  This is a beautiful pad of paper.  I attached a red satin ribbon diagonally across the front of the card, this was just some ribbon that I had in my collection.

I saw this little bird on Kristy's facebook page - ScrapbookingCafe and had to have it.  He's so cute!  He's made by Stampendous - Snow Bird.  If you haven't seen Kristy's online store - check it out.  Great stuff and good prices.

So, I stamped him on Recollections - Shimmer paper with Stazon - Jet Black.  I cut this out with SU - Labels Framelits.  Using an aqua painter, I painted the bird with SU - Watercolour Crayons and used Marina Mist and Cherry Cobbler.  His beak is Daffodil Delight and his legs are Tangerine Tango.  The branch is painted with Soft Suede.  I always use Ink Potion #9 in my aqua painter, it works just like water but doesn't warp the paper.  I coloured the berries with a red Tombo marker - #856.

For the background I used SU - Marina Mist and Real Red ink and a finger dauber.  I kept these colours very soft and just rubbed them in. 

To make the snow on the branches, I used a Snow Marker.  It's hard to see in the picture, but the snow is puffed up and this adds really nice dimension to the picture!  If you haven't used one of these markers, you should try to find one because they are so cool.  The marker puts a white liquid on the paper where you want it and then you just heat it with a heating tool and it dries and expands, so easy and such a great effect.

The red frame around the bird was cut and embossed using the same SU - Label Framelits that I cut the bird out with and the next size smaller.  The frame was glued to the bird picture and this was popped up on the card.

The sentiment is Inkadinado - Ornate Christmas and is stamped with Stazon - Jet Black.  This was also stamped on the white Shimmer paper and die cut with Spellbinders - Labels Twenty.  Before I took the die off of the paper, I sponged SU - Marina Mist around the edge.  I coloured the little poinsettia with the red Tombo and added a small half pearl to the center.  I sponged Real Red around the edges and popped this up on the card. 

I stung two small red bells on some red and white baker's twine and attached them to the back of the popped up sentiment.

This is the inside.  Used the same colours as the front.  The verse is my own and generated on the computer.

Hope you like the card.  Thanks for taking a look :)







Audrey


A dear friend turned 101 years old in August, she is such a sweet and lovely lady and I wanted something special for her so this is the card I made for her. 

I love Kittie Caracciolo's cards and this is one of her cards that inspired mine - http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/2032734?&limit=last1

This is a 6x6 card, but I cut it 1/4" smaller so it would go into a 6" envelope.  I used a medium pink Bazzill cardstock.  The next layer is a 4" square of white cardstock embossed with SU - Square Lattice folder.  This was attached directly to the center of the pink card. 

The designer paper is some from my stash, sorry I don't know the company name.  I started with a 5" square and used Martha Stewart's punch around the page - Eyelet Lace.  I then cut and embossed the center opening with Spellbinders - Classic Scalloped Circles.  I added pop ups to this but it didn't give enough height, so I put a second layer of pop ups right on the first ones and attached this to center of the card.

Then the decorating :)

I used one Tammy Beaver's flowers.  I think they are so beautiful and they come in many colours.   You can get them from Tammy, check out her website at http://www.dcands.ca/ and you can also get them at Scrapbooking Cafe Online, http://www.scrapbookingcafeonline.ca.  I attach these flowers to the cards with a little dab of hot glue. 

The leaves are a combination of things.  I used SU - Little Leaves (I love this sizzlet! ) and SU - Build A Blossom Punch.  The punch is to build flowers but many of them look like leaves too.  I used SU - Old Olive, Wild Wasabi, and Pear Pizzaz.  Then I did a lot of sponging on them.  They are shaded at the base and along the edges with a variety of colours - SU - Garden Green, Always Artichoke, and Old Olive.  The shading at the base is heavier than the edges.  Then I blushed the leaves here and there with SU - Cherry Cobbler.  There's a little bit on each leaf but in different places.  I love using finger daubers for this shading, it gives you nice control of how much colour you're putting on and lets you put it just where you want it.  I shaped the bigger leaves by rolling them around the handle of a small paint brush.  The leaves were arranged around the flower and the open circle and glued in place.

I cut the little banner out by hand and the "Happy Birthday" is SU - Something to Celebrate and is stamped in SU - Garden Green.  I sponged the same colour around the edges and glued this just under the edge of the flower.  I added some pink half pearls in each corner.

This is the inside.

A square of white cardstock, a square of the same designer paper used on the front ( this was also punched with MS - Eyelet Lace), and a scalloped circle of white cardstock.  I added a few leaves to make it pretty.  I didn't add a verse to this card because I wanted to write my own words.

Thanks for taking a look :)

Monday 8 October 2012

Happy Thanksgiving


I love making cards for the holidays and seasons and it's so much fun to send them to family and friends.  Each year I collect different stamps, paper, and dies for each season and then try to use them all on the cards.  This card has the things I've collected for Thanksgiving over the last year.  Hope you like it :)

The card is made with Recollections - Kraft paper and the woodgrain paper is some that I had in my collection, sorry I don't have a company name. 

The pumpkin paper is K&Company - Tim Coffey Fall Pumpkins and it is such pretty paper.  It's layered over Bazzill - Espresso.

The beautiful pumpkin die is Cheery Lynn - Lacey Pumpkin Corner Flourish.  It's a rather intricate die and I had some difficulty getting it to cut, took lots of shims!  It comes out of the die really easy though.  I cut it out of the Espresso paper and glued it onto the card.

The leaves are SU - Autumn Splendor.  I stamped them with SU - Chocolate Chip on some pieces of scrap paper that I had here in nice fall colours.  I cut them out and popped them up on the card with dimensionals.  The double acorn is also from this set of stamps, stamped on Kraft paper with Chocolate Chip and cut out.
The single acorn is SU - Day of Gratitude.  Same thing, it's stamped on Kraft paper with Chocolate Chip, cut out, and glued in place.

The "Happy Thanksgiving" sentiment is SU - Thankful For, stamped on Kraft paper with Chocolate Chip.  I cut it into a small banner and layered it over a banner of Bazzill - Espresso.  This is also popped up.

The sentiment on the inside is computer generated on white cardstock.  The pumpkins are embossed with a Cuttlebug folder - Pumpkin Harvest on some soft orange cardstock that I had here in my collection.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, hope you've had a wonderful long weekend with family and friends.  Thanks for dropping by :)

















Neighbourly Thanks!


It has been a while since I posted any cards, I've been making lots of them but just couldn't get them posted.  We have had a busy and very lovely end of summer and early fall here.  Got to visit our son in Newfoundland several times and spent time with our daughter in Halifax too, doesn't get any better.  So now I have lots of cards to post :)  I'll try to get a bunch of them on in the next couple of days.

We have wonderful neighbours on the quiet road where we live and we owed one of them a huge thanks for their generosity.  This is the card that I made for them.

The card itself is made with SU - Chocolate Chip and the designer paper is Echo Park - Victoria Gardens and I distressed the edges with a Tim Holtz tool.  The brown trim through the middle of this layer is EK - Medallion Chain double edge punch and Recollections - Kraft paper.

The next layer is SU - Chocolate Chip and SU - River Rock.  I love this colour, it's one of my favourites.  The embossing folder is a Craft Concept - Silver Fern.  These two are layered and popped up with dimensionals. 

The third layer is SU - Chocolate Chip and die cut with Spellbinders - Floral Ovals.  This is a great set of Spellbinders, I have used them a lot!  The inside image was first stamped on white cardstock with SU - River Rock and is from a SU - Nature's Pace stamps.  I cut and embossed the oval with Spellbinders - Classic Ovals Sm and left the die on when I was finished.  Using a little finger dauber and SU - Chocolate Chip, I very lightly sponged around the inside. This makes such a cool effect!  These two are layered and popped up.

Then the decorations, I used Cheery Lynn - Fanciful Flourish in SU - Garden Green and Memory Box - Gentle Leaf in a medium green Bazzill cardstock.  The flowers that I've used on this card are from Tammy Beaver and they come in the most beautiful range of colours and sizes.  You can get them from Tammy, check out her website at http://www.dcands.ca/ and you can also get them at Scrapbooking Cafe Online, http://www.scrapbookingcafeonline.ca/.  The daisy had a pretty flocked center but I accidentally rubbed most of it off, so I glued some yellow Flower Soft on to make a new center.

The little "thanks so much" is from SU.  I stamped it in SU - Garden Green and cut it into a little banner and sponged around the edges with Chocolate Chip.  I rolled it over a pencil to get it to curve and then glued each side down and added brown half pearls.


Here's the inside of the card.  A layer of SU - River Rock and a layer of white cardstock.  The thistles are SU - Nature's Pace and are stamped with SU - River Rock.  The edges are sponged with Chocolate Chip.  The message was computer generated.

Thanks for taking a peek and stay tuned for more cards :)



Monday 13 August 2012

speedy recovery!

This is a card that I made for a friend recovering from hip surgery.  I didn't want it to be a get well card, but rather a speedy recovery card.  He loves to fish and was missing getting out so this is the card that I came up with.

The card base was made from SU - Cajun Craze with a mat of SU - Chocolate Chip.  The wood grain paper is from GCD Studios - Autumn Afternoon.  The fisherman is a picture of a stamp that I downloaded from a site and for the life of me I can't find it again, so I really have no info on what company makes it, sorry!  I thought it was just perfect for this card.  The fisherman is also matted with Chocolate Chip.  The fishing rod, fish, tackle box, and fishing hat and vest are a set of Jolee's dimensional stickers - Going Fishing.  I used Baker's Twine for the fishing line and the metal fish is K&Company - Seaglass Metal Art. 

The sentiment was generated on the computer, I cut it out and embossed with Spellbinders - Labels Twenty-Three and I sponged SU - Chocolate Chip around the piece before I removed the die.  This was attached to the card with pop ups.

Here is a picture of the inside of the card.  The dancing fish I found using a Google image search, they were printed on white and matted with Chocolate Chip.  The sentiment inside the card is something I did on the computer.


Thanks for taking a look :)





Thursday 2 August 2012

just peachy!

Hi everyone!  This is the card that I made this week with "the girls".  Once a week five of us get together and spend the day making cards - it's so much fun.  Everyone had such great ideas.  This is what I came up with this week.

I bought some older cards at our neighbour's yard sale this spring.  They were all beautiful flowers or scenes done in the nicest colours, some of them had originally been purchased in Europe.  I thought they were delightful and I wanted to incorporate some of the pictures into my cards.

The base of the card is a bone coloured Bazzill cardstock.  The flower image is from one of the cards, sorry I don't know the name of the company.  I matted it on a piece of SU - Chocolate Chip and then on a piece of medium green Bazzill.  The flourish behind the oval is Cheery Lynn - Fanciful Flourish and the paper is Michael's textured cardstock from the Earth and Sky collection.  The oval behind the bird was also cut from this medium green Bazzill using Spellbinders - Floral Ovals and I popped this up with dimensionals.  The branch was cut using Memory Box die - Woodland Branch with SU - Early Espresso paper.  The little bird is a dimensional sticker from K&Company - Susan Winget Robin Botanicals, I thought it was so cute!

The flowers were cut with Spellbinders - Rose Creations and a peach Bazzill cardstock.  I shaped these using a soft mouse pad and glued them to create a scene around the bird.  The smaller flowers were punched with EK - Small Daisy punch and the bone coloured cardstock.  These were also shaped just a bit and a white pearl was added to the center of each flower.  The finishing touch is the little bumblebee.  It is also a dimensional sticker from K&Company - Tim Coffey White Floral.  I Love K&Company, their products add such nice little details to cards.

Thanks so much for taking a look at my cards, hope you'll come back :)

Wednesday 25 July 2012

Nautical Thank You

Hi everyone, this has been a good but busy day for me.  I was off making cards today with the girls, we always get together once a week and today was the day!  This is always a lovely day that we all look forward to.  I wanted to work on this card today and didn't have the original, so I posted a picture on SCS this morning so that I could have something to work from lol.  However, I didn't post any instructions and I hate doing that but today it was unavoidable. 

This is another thank you card that I designed for someone looking to purchase a number of cards to give to employees throughout the province of Nova Scotia so I wanted to make sure that this card said "Nova Scotia".  The paper in the background is the Nova Scotia tartan and it despicts the ocean which surrounds the province and the livelyhood that it provides to the people of Nova Scotia.  The ligthhouse is a Close To My Heart stamp called Perfect Day.  I'm really enjoying these stamps, they are clear and very easy to position and have beautiful detail. 

First I cut out a mask of the lighthouse stamp and placed it on white cardstock, I then brayed Hero Arts Shadow Ink - Pool blue for the water.  I lifted the mask and stamped the lighthouse using Stazon - Jet Black.  I sponged some yellow in the sky and some of the same Pool blue, keeping the colours light and soft.  A finger dabber workers really well for doing skies, I like the control it gives you.  I added a little bit of colour to the stamped image with watercolour pencils and an aqua pen.  I always use Ink Potion #9 in my pen instead of water.  It keeps the paper flat, no warping.  This is a fantastic product!  Kristy who owns Scrapbooking Cafe told me about it, she is wonderful!  Always introducing us to great new things.  Check her out at http://www.scrapbookingcafeonline.ca/


I cut out around the top of the lighthouse by hand and then placed the Spellbinders - Labels Twenty-Three with the cutting edge next to the image.  The cut out section is lifted over to the non cutting side of the Spellbinder and a small piece of tape on the SB holds everything in position while it's run through the Cuttlebug or whatever machine you use.  I love this technique, I think it gives the picture a really great dimension!  This cut out was adhered to the card with a tape runner.

The little frame for the thank you was stamped with SU - Four Frames, I thought the little shore bird was just right for the Nova Scotia theme.  I cut it out using the co-ordinating SU punch - Decorative Label.  The "Thank You" is SU - Thank You Kindly.  Both of these were stamped with Stazon - Jet Black.  I sponged a little Pool Blue for a background and added some brown to the little bird with the watercolour pencils.  I added pop ups to it and placed it on the card.

The knot is called Lors knot and it's so cool and really easy to do.  I saw it on one of Trina Kuriger's beautiful cards and she had a really great tutorial on how to tie it.  Check it out -
http://mnfroggie.blogspot.ca/2011/05/tutorial-for-sailors-knot.html.  I used some twine that I had laying around to make the knot and ran a line of hot glue diagonally across the card and positioned the knot over it and then I cut the twine flush with the edges of the card.  I don't usually use hot glue on cards but the twine was too heavy to tuck under the edge of the paper to hide the cut edges so I thought this would be a good alternative.  I had these little sand dollars left over from another project and they worked perfect on this card.  They are real sand dollars, but very small, only about an inch across.  I added this with hot glue too.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog, hope you enjoy this card.  I love to hear comments that people leave, so please add your comments too :)



Friday 29 June 2012

thank you in aqua

I was asked by a woman to make some thank you cards for her, this is the first one that I designed. 

I really love the pattern and details in this flower and leaves.  I didn't start out to make a brown flower.  I knew I wanted to use this stamp and I intended for it to be layers of different colours with only the bottom layer in brown, but I loved the brown on brown so much that I continued on with the other layers too!  and once I had the flower made this aqua paper complimented it nicely.

So, all the paper for this card came from Michaels.  The card is made from a medium aqua Bazzill cardstock and the designer paper is Recollections - Aqua Screen.  The ribbon is a wide aqua organza ribbon that I had from the dollar store.  The brown trim on top of the ribbon was done using EK - Medallion Chain double edge punch and Recollections - Kraft paper.  This is one of my favourite punches.  I glued a line of twine in the middle, Sew Easy Fancy Floss - Blue Lagoon.

The flower stamp is SU - Triple Treat Flower.  I stamped it 5 times on the Kraft paper with SU - Chocolate Chip ink and 3 of the flowers were cut out with SU - Fancy Flower punch.  I overlaped 2 of these almost half ways and this made the bottome layer of the flower. I attached this to the card with Skor tape.  The third one I shaped just a bit with a paint brush handle and I placed it in the center of the first layer.  The fourth flower was cut out using SU - 5 Petal Flower punch and this cut out just a portion of the stamped flower.  This was also shaped just a bit and popped up as the next layer.  I added a few very small white half pearls to this flower layer.  From the fifth stamped flower I used SU - 1/2" circle punch to cut out the center of the flower.  This circle was shaped on a soft mouse pad and popped up for the center of the flower. 

The leaves are SU - Day of Gratitude.  They were stamped on the Kraft paper and cut out with scissors and glued to the card around the flower. 

The butterfly was stamped with SU - Papillon Potpourri and SU - Really Rust.  I stamped it on Recollections - White Glimmer paper, this paper has a soft shine to it which you can see in the picture.  The butterfly was cut out with the coordinating SU - Butterfly punch, shaped a bit and glued to the card.

The sentiment tag I cut out by hand using the same Recollections Glimmer paper.  The stamp is SU - Thank You Kindly and I used Stazon - Jet Black.  I cut a second tag just a bit bigger from the Kraft paper and layered it under the sentiment, punched a hole in the tag and tied a piece of twine through the hole.  I popped this up on the card.  A few white half pearls in the corner finished the card.

This was a really fun card to make.

Thanks for stopping to take a look :)







Tuesday 26 June 2012

peachy birthday

I wanted to use some things on this card that I really liked but hadn't had a chance to use yet lol, you know the stuff!

The first was this peach Bazzill cardstock and the second was this beautiful paper from DCWV matstack - The Tradewinds.  This is such a great book of paper, every piece is just gorgeous.  All of the brown paper layers are SU - Chocolate Chip.  The border is Martha Stewart - Arch Lattice punch and the pleated ribbon is some that I found in a scrapbooking store in New Brunswick while visiting my parents, it's a vanilla colour.

The stamp set is from SU - Apothecary set - the third thing that I wanted to use.  I stamped it with Stazon - Jet Black on SU - Very Vanilla and watercoloured it with Staedtler watercolour pencils.  For the center of the flowers I used Recollections - Microbeads in Champagne.  I love using these for flowers.  Put a dab of glue, sprinkle some microbeads on and shape them a bit as they start to set.  When the glue is completely dry, add more glue over top of them.  Make sure that it's a glue that dries clear.  This sets them in place and there's so many colours available!

I used SU - Labels Collection Framelits to cut out the layer of peach cardstock and the layer with the Apothecary stamp.  To get the brown layer, I traced around the outside edge of one of the framelits and cut it out by hand.  This is easy to cut out and gives you closer layers.  This set of three framelits was popped up.  The framelits are the fourth thing that was waiting to be used in my craft room!

The banner is SU - Take it To Heart and was stamped with Stazon - Jet Black.  I coloured the edges with SU - Dusty Durango marker.  The sentiment is from the Apothecary set and also stamped with Stazon.  The banner was cut out and popped up.

The last details are the stick pin with a variety of beads, the butterfly which is cut and embossed using SU - Beautiful Wings, and a Die-namics - Leafy Flourish.  Both the butterfly and the flourish were cut from brushed gold cardstock - sorry I don't know the name.  A few half pearls and my card was finished -

AND I got to use lots of things for the first time :)

Thanks for taking a look.

Little Bird!

Haven't posted for a couple of days - life's just busy at the moment, which is good!  I'll see if I can post a couple of cards now.

This is a birthday card that I made for my friend Diane.  I didn't add a Happy Birthday sentiment on the outside of the card, I put it all inside.  So really this card could have been used for several occassions.

I started with a dark teal Bazzill cardstock and added a layer of SU - Very Vanilla.  The next layers are the dark teal topped with K&Company - Teal Floral & Letter.  The lace is from Micheals and the beautiful pleated ribbon is SU.  This second layer is popped up.  The third layers are SU - Chocolate Chip and BoBunny - Gabrielle Mocha Die Cut.  This paper was round and had this beautiful cut edge on it - love it.  This layer was popped up too.

The medallion was cut from SU - Very Vanilla using Spellbinders - Fancy Tags Two.  I sponged the center with SU - Crumb Cake.  The leaves are all die cut from SU - Pear Pizazz using Cheery Lynn - Fanciful Flourish and Memory Box - Tender Leaves.  The little flowers are Prima Flowers.

The bird was stamped using SU - Young Vermilion and Stazon - Jet Black.  I watercoloured it very softly with SU - Watercolour Crayons in Baja Breeze, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, and Tangerine Tango.  When I watercolour on cards, I always use Ink Potion # Nine because it doesn't warp the paper.  I cut him out and curled him just a bit, then popped him up.

The final touches were the soft gold ribbon from the dollar store, the light blue half pearls, and the stick pin with a variety of beads.

Hope you like this card, I loved making it :)

Thanks for taking a look.

Wednesday 20 June 2012

A Meadow Birthday

I made this card for my friend Sherrie's birthday.  I had just got a new stamp set from La Blanche called "Meadow" and really wanted to use it - hope you like it.

The card is made with kraft paper and watermarked with Versa Mark ink and SU - Elements of Style.  On SU - Very Vanilla paper, I stamped the background with SU - En Francais using SU - Creamy Caramel.  I tore two edges of the paper and sponged Creamy Caramel around the edges and here and there over the paper to give it a distressed look. 

The flowers are one of the two stamps in the La Blanche - meadow set.  They are stamped in Versafine - Majestic Blue.  These are beautiful stamps to work with, they give a very clear, crisp image - love them.  I rolled the torn edges inward which is kind of hard to see in the picture.  I then took a dark blue Bazzill paper and tore the same two edges on it but trying not to match the torn edge on the Vanilla piece.  The edges of this one are rolled as well.  I added two small copper coloured brads and some SU - Beautiful Wings butterflies.  These two layers were then attached to the card.

The flower was made using SU - Build A Blossom punch and Floral Fusion die with a variety of designer paper.  Each petal was rolled and shaped using the end of a small paint brush.  The petals were also sponged with either the Majectic blue or Creamy Caramel.  A peach half pearl was added to the center.

The happy birthday stamp is SU - Something to Celebrate in Pumpkin Pie.  It was cut out with SU - Decorative Label punch.  I punched it once, then put it back in and punched it again to get a smaller label. 

The other flower stamp in the set is just as pretty, I'll have to use it soon.

Thanks for taking a look :)




Tuesday 12 June 2012

Grandbaby!

This is a card that I made a while ago to congratulate a couple on their first grand baby!  They were so excited to welcome the little one.

The card was made using a bronze metallic cardstock, a layer of white and then a layer of designer paper - this paper was just in my collection sooooooo, I don't know the name.

The stamp set I used was SU - Teddy & Train and I stamped them in Stazon - Jet Black.  I coloured the two images using Staedtler watercolour pencils and blended them with an aqua pen filled with Ink Potion #9.  This is the best stuff, it's clear and works just like water but doesn't curl the paper!

I used EK - Dotted Scallop punch under the train and the teddy is layered over Spellbinders - Classic Scalloped Squares Small.  I added a little ribbon and a few pearls and the card was done.

This is the verse I found for the inside - love it!


Thanks for checking out my blog :)


Sunday 10 June 2012

Dad's Birthday

This card I made for my father in law's birthday, he and all 5 of his sons are crazy about old cars, so the card had to have one on it.  He is a real sweetheart!

The base of this card is a very dark brown Bazzill cardstock and the wood grain background is a piece that I had in my collection - sorry I don't know the company.  The brads in the corners are K&Company - Rough & Tumble.

I used Spellbinders - Labels Twenty and SU - Cajun Craze for the background behind the car.  The car is from a sheet of Graphic 45 - A Proper Gentleman Collection.  This sheet is full of cars, I just cut out one and layered it over some of the dark brown cardstock.

Happy Birthday was stamped with Stazon - Jet Black on some off white cardstock.  The stamp is from SU - Elementary Elegance.  It also was cut using Spellbinders - Labels Twenty.  I used Spellbinders - Fleur De Lis Accents to cut the shape behind the Happy Birthday.  This was done using the dark brown cardstock.  I popped this up on the card.

The twine holding the banners is Sew Easy - Blue Lagoon.  The pennants were punched using SU - Petite Pennants Builder.  I love putting these on cards, it makes it seem more festive, and when you add music sheets - it's perfect for a birthday!  The back colour is the dark brown cardstock and the music paper is BoBunny - Et Cetera Symphony.  These little pennants are also popped up.

Enjoy your Sunday and thanks for taking a peek :)



Poinsettias



This Spellbinder - Poinsettia is just beautiful and it's so easy to make these flowers.  It comes with 4 different size petals so you can use them all and have a big flower or use just the smaller ones for a smaller flower.  This is the card that I made with them - even though Christmas isn't for a while!

I started with a white card base and layered brushed gold metallic cardstock (sorry I don't know the name of it) and then SU - Cherry Cobbler.  I used Spellbinders - Floral Ovals to cut the brushed gold fancy oval.  This is another set that I have used a lot -it's just perfect for so many cards.  The inside oval is SU - Very Vanilla cut with Spellbinders - Classic Ovals Small.  I embossed this oval with SU - Square Lattice folder.

For the large poinsettia I used all 4 of the flower dies and I cut each of them out twice in SU - Cherry Cobbler.  For the small flower I used just the 2 smallest dies and cut each of them out twice also in Cherry Cobbler.  I shaped the petals very softly on a soft mouse pad - the spellbinder embosses nice veins in the petals and I didn't want to loose these lines.  Most of the shaping was in the middle part of the flower so the center would be indented and the petals would flow up from there.  Once everything was shaped I glued the layers of petals together, slightly offsetting each layer from the last.  The flowers were then glued onto the card. 

The centers were done with Micro Beads, I used Recollections - Champagne.  Put a nice blob of glue that will dry clear in the center of the flowers and sprinkle the beads into the glue.  As the glue dried I tapped the beads down into the glue and shaped it a bit.  This way you can get the shape the you want and get rid of any beads that are sticking off.  As the glue continued to dry, the center fell inwards leaving a cool looking flower!

I added 3 poinsettia leaves in a medium green cardstock, these big leaves are part of the Spellbinder - Poinsettia.  The holly leaves were cut from some dark green cardstock using Martha Stewart - Holly punch.  A few leaves in white using Martha Stewart - Branch punch were added.  A flourish was placed using Die-namics - Leafy Flourish, I cut this from Recollections - Gemstones.  The last leaf was cut from a lighter green cardstock using Poppy Stamp die - Meadow Leaf.  Red berries were glued in around the holly leaves.

Thanks for looking :)



Friday 8 June 2012

Morning In The Orient!

This card was just picked as one of the favourites of the week on Splitcoaststampers - so exciting!!!  June 10/12


As soon as I saw this paper, I knew this card had to be made, lol.

This is a 6" x 6" card made from SU Very Vanilla, and a layer of SU Chocolate Chip.  The desinger paper is from Authentique - Carefree.  In the background there is a band of Chocolate Chip punched with Su - Scallop Trim Border.  The antique lace is from my collection.

The base behind the bird was cut using Spellbinders - Labels Twenty Three from paper by Recollections - Gemstones.  This paper is the same colour as SU Very Vanilla but it has a soft pretty shimmer.  The flowers were cut using Spellbinders - Rose Creations and they were cut from paper in Authentique - Carefree.  I shaped them on a soft mouse pad before they were layered together.  An off white half pearl was added to the centers.  The leaves were also cut from Recollections - Gemstones using Spellbinders - Foliage and shaped on a soft mouse pad.

Flourishes were added using Cheery Lynn - Fanciful Flourish, Die-namics - Leafy Flourish, and Memory Box - Woodland Branch.  The blue bird is from K&Company - Bird & Butterfly Layered Accents :)



Easter Egg Hunt

This is one of my Easter cards that I made this spring.  They were fun to make and even more fun to give to family as we celebrated Easter!

The card was made from white cardstock.  The front has a layer of medium pink Bazzill paper.  The designer paper was some that I had in my collection, I'm afraid I don't know the company name.  The background under the medallion was cut from white cardstock using Spellbinders - Lace Doily Motifs.  The little girl was stamped with Stazon - Jet Black using is a SU set - Easter Blossoms.  I sponged the background with Versafine - Majestic Blue and SU - Summer Sun.  The frame around her was cut from the same medium pink Bazzill paper using with Spellbinders - Classic Scallop Ovals Small and an oval was cut in the center of this using Spellbinders - Classic Oval Small.  I punch holes in each of the scallops with a paper piercer and a soft mouse pad.  This frame was glued over the image of the little girl and popped up in the center of the lace doily.
 

I decorated the card with Tim Holtz - Mini Flourish die in a light green Bazzill cardstock.  The leaves were cut from a medium green Bazzill cardstock using SU - Little Leaves and SU - Biuld A Blossom.  The 2 smaller flowers were created using Matha Stewart - Hydrangea Punch and were cut from a stone coloured Bazzill cardstock.  The larger flower was cut from a Cuttlebug - Flower die, Su - Floral Fusion, and an EK - Small Daisy punch all in the same stone coloured cardstock.  I sponged them all with SU - Cameo Coral and shaped them on a soft mouse pad.  The small flowers have yellow Flower Soft glued in the centers and the larger one has a white half pearl.
 
I added leaves from white cardstock using Martha Stewart - Branch Punch and pearl strings that I found at our local dollar store.  The sentiment is SU - Something To Celebrate and was stamped with Stazon - Jet Black.  I sponged arond the little banner with SU - Wild Wasabi.  The Easter eggs are from the same SU - Easter Blossoms set.  I embossed them in white on blue and pink carstock and cut out around them.  I added a little butterfly that I cut using Su - Beautiful Wings, I layered two of them together.   A few more white half pearls placed among the leaves finished the card.
 
 
This is the inside of the card.  The verse is half my words and half someone elses.  The little Easter eggs were created the same as the front.  The corner punches are Martha Stewart - French Scroll.

Thursday 7 June 2012

Bird, Butterfly, and Blossoms!


Good morning!

This is a card that I made for our daughter to congratulate her on finishing her first year of law school.  She did a fantastic job!

The card is white cardstock with a layer of SU Early Espresso, one of my favourite colours.  The designer paper is Kaisercraft - Secret Bird Society Collection.  The whole sheet is beautiful, this is just a small section of it.  It is hard to tell from the picture, but the designs of the bird, flowers, and branches are all a beautiful coppery brown metallic, so the card has some shine to it.  There is another piece of designer paper over this but unfortunately, I don't remember where I pick it up from.  I added a piece of white doily.

I wanted this card to feel like a beautiful spring day, so I added the branch with the blossoms.  The branch is cut using Memory Box - Woodland Branch Die and the leaves are Memory Box - Tender Leaves Die.  This branch die is so versatile, you can add the leaves or leave it bare for winter.  You can use it as a full branch on a tree or have it as an accent twig sticking out behind some flowers.  I love it!

The branch is cut from SU Early Espresso and the leaves are cut from some scrap green - I always have little pieces of a variety of greens laying around that are just right for leaves.  The flowers are cut using a Recollections Punch.  I sponged around the edges with SU - Cameo Coral and then shaped them using a soft mouse pad.  A white half pearl for the center finished the little flowers.

The butterfly is cut using Memory Box - Vivienne.  This is such a pretty butterfly and can be paired with Memory Box - Darla which is a solid cut out of the same butterfly.  These two butterflies are pretty alone or together.  For this card I just used Vivienne.

Thanks for looking :)





















Wednesday 6 June 2012

Cardinal Christmas

This card has so many things that I like - cardinals, snowflakes, and one horse open sleighs!  It was fun to make.


The card base is white 5" x 7".  There is a layer of dark blue Bazzill cardstock, I'm afraid that I don't know the name of the colour.  The embossed silver layer is from Dollarama, it's not very thick paper but it is very pretty.  The picture in the window is from an older SU set.  I stamped it with Stazon - Jet Black and coloured it with Staedtler watercolour pencils, then used a Sugarloaf blender marker to blend the colours.  I covered the image with Scor tape and Glitter Ritz - Transparent Micro Fine Glitter - Cool Highlights.  You can't tell from the picture but the image in the window is very sparkly!  This image was then taped to the card.


The window was cut out using Heartfelt Creations - Decorative Window Scene die in white cardstock.  I sponged around the window with SU - Chocolate Chip.  The dark blue Bazzill cardstock was used to cut the background for the window.  If you place the die on your cardstock and trace around it with a pencil, then cut it out with scissors, you get a slightly larger image than the die will cut out.  It will have no cut out details, it's just a solid shape of your die.  This is an easy way to create a matte for behind almost any die.  I glued the white window onto the blue window matte and popped it up over the stamped picture.


The cardinal is from Heartfelt Creations - Cardinal Pine Cone Border.  It was stamped with Stazon - Jet Black and coloured with watercolour pencils and the blender marker.  I cut it out and popped it up.  Around the cardinal I added snowflakes from SU - Northern Frost and leaves with Martha Stewart's - Branch Punch.  The little sentiment is a stamp from SU.  I cut a label out using SU - Decorative Label, then put the label back in the punch and cut it down a bit smaller.

This is the inside of this card, fairly simple.  There is a layer of dark blue Bazzill cardstock and a layer of white cardstock, both have been cut using Spellbinders - Labels Five.  The verse I printed using the computer.   The verse is part my words and part someone elses.

Hope you've enjoyed this card :)



Old World Santa

This is a card that I made for Christmas last year.  I found these old world santa stamps and just had to use them!

The card is 5" x 7" and is made with SU - Cherry Cobbler.  The next layer is SU - Very Vanilla.  I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder from the Winter Wonderland Set ( this is a set of 6) across the top and added Star Dust Stickles to accent some of the dots in the embossing, also a few rhinestones for a little bling. 

The santa is from Inkadinkado - Santas set and is stamped with Stazon - Jet Black.  The poinsettia is a layered flower which I popped up.  It's from K&Company - Visions of Christmas, Red Layered Accents.  This is a  package of layered poinsettias, bows and holly, and Christmas ornaments and are fun to add to cards.

The sentiment is from SU and is stamped in Cherry Cobbler and also sponged around the edge with Cherry Cobbler.  The tag underneath is a SU punch - Decorative Label.  I cut the tag out and then put it back in the punch to cut it down and make it smaller.  The tag is the popped up.

This is the inside.  The santa is from the same set of old world santas stamped in Stazon - Jet Black on SU - Very Vanilla.  The verse is in a set from Inkadinkado - Holiday Classic Expressions.  I stamped it with Versa Mark Ink and embossed it with SU - Cherry Cobbler embossing powder.

I love Christmas!  Thanks for looking :)

O Come Let Us Adore Him...

Every Christmas 8 of us get together for a night of card making.  Each of us design a Christmas card and prepare kits for the other 7 to do.  At the end of the night we each have 8 beautiful cards to take home and the evening is full of laughs and good times.  This is the card I designed last Christmas.

The card is 6" x 6" and is made from SU - Cherry Cobbler, love this colour!  The holly and pine paper is K&Company - Glad Tidings.  The smaller square measures 5" x 5" and is also a layer of Cherry Cobbler and the designer paper.  I added red satin ribbon around this layer then popped it up on the center of the larger card. 

Next I cut a pendant using Spellbinders - Fleur De Lis and copper metallic cardstock.  This was glued to the card.  The stamp is Cornish Heritage Farms - We Three Kings, I like its worn, textured look.  I stamped it on SU - Very Vanilla and then cut it out with a Spellbinders - Labels Twenty.  Over this I put a layer of Scor tape which is very sticky and spread Glitter Ritz - Transparent Micro Fine Glitter - Cool Highlights over it.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but the Very Vanilla cut out is very glittery.  A few red half pearls finished the front of the card.

This is the inside of the card.  The verse was printed on Very Vanilla paper using my computer and then cut out using Spellbinders - Labels Twenty.

Thanks for looking :)



















Tuesday 5 June 2012

Butterfly Easel Cards















A few months ago my friend Carol and I were looking at cards on the internet and came across Bronwyn Eastley's blog - http://www.addinktivedesigns.blogspot.ca/.  She has the most beautiful easel cards, but the butterfly ones really caught my eye.  These are my version of her butterfly easel cards.

The butterflies were cut using Sizzix - Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die, but I wanted my cards to be just a little bigger, so I cut out the largest butterfly on the die, I changed the bottom half of the butterfly to what you see here, and then enlarged it by 50%.  Once I had the template, I traced the butterfly shape onto cardstock that had been folded with the fold at the very top of the wings and cut it out.  This gives you a butterfly shaped card.  One butterfly needs to be scored horizontally between the upper and lower wings, this will create the easel.  The scored butterfly will be the top of the card.

You can see Tammy's flowers and the dies that I used to decorate the card. 
What you see there is one package of her flowers.
Then you need one more butterfly cut from cardstock.  As you can see, the cards are pretty with the butterflies all in one colour or with a combination of designer paper and plain cardstock.  This butterfly can be embossed with your favourite folder and is sponged around the edge with a slightly darker ink.  The smaller butterfly that goes on top of the card is the largest butterfly on the Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die.  It also can be embossed and should be inked around the edges too.

The bottom wings of the single butterfly are attached to the bottom wings of the butterfly card using Scor tape.                                         


This is what it will look like from the side and the back.  You may have to do some trimming to make everything match up perfectly.















The smaller butterfly is attached to the middle of the card using Scor tape and then the fun part - you get to decorate it!  I used Tammy Beaver's flowers which you can see in the picture above.  I think they are so beautiful and they come in many colours.   You can get them from Tammy, check out her website at http://www.dcands.ca/ and you can also get them at Scrapbooking Cafe Online, http://www.scrapbookingcafeonline.ca.  I attach these flowers to the cards with a little dab of hot glue.  I also used Memory Box - Tender Leaves and Die-namics - Leafy Flourish to decorate and poked some white floral pearls here and there among the petals of the flowers.







The inside of the card can be decorated in so many ways.  In this card I used an EK edge punch to create the brown scrolls, the Die-namics Leafy Flourish, and SU - BoHo Flower stamp and co-ordinating punch.  These little flowers are popped up and are the catching point for the card so it will stand up like an easel.  Half pearls in the center of the flowers finish it off.  The sentiment is from SU.

Thanks for looking :)