Another Sugar Bowl

Today I got the chance to play with my new distress inks.  They might take a bit of time to get used to but I am determined!  The Sugar Bowl is having their last challenge of the year and I'm excited to enter Demure.  She is perfect for the soft effect of the distress inks.

Thank you for looking!  I will post the details later.

Shana

Happy New Year My Son, My Moon and My Stars!

Ever since my son was a baby, I have called him "my son, my moon, and my stars".  When Magnolia-licious Highlites set this month's challenge as any shape except the normal rectangle or square, I struggled against the obvious circle and stumbled across star.  I was already colouring a new Magnolia image I received for Christmas and the rest of the card elements just came together from there.  So here is my New Year's card for my darling son!

My appologies to the fabulous Magnolia artist as I cut off her lizard's tongue.  My son's pet bearded dragon loves to ride on his shoulders and while Drago does have a tongue, he doesn't show it often.  The star shape was cut with the Cricut and a sun has been stitched on top of the stars.  On the inside, I stitched a moon and added smaller stars cut with the Cricut.

The new challenge at Roses on Paper is to use your favorite colouring medium which for me is the equivalent of picking between my son and daughter!  I hope they'll settle for picking my favorite coloured pencils - Lyra.  Several challenge blogs are focused on a New Year's theme - Everybody Art Challenge, Cute Card Thursday, Simon Says Challenge, and Stampavie and More so I will be entering Happy New Year Edwin in those as well.

Thank you for stopping by to look!

Details

Stamps: Magnolia Edwin with Lizard

Paper: Basic Grey Lime Rickey

Ink: Memento Black, Color Box chalk cats eye Creamy Brown

Embellishments: J & P Coats and DMC embroidery thread,

Tools: Cricut, Dymo label maker

Fairy Kisses

As the Christmas season draws to a close once again, I eagerly look forward to Valentine's Day and my wedding anniversary.  Part of my Christmas present included the PaperCard kit of the month from Paper Works Co. which I combined with autumn fairy digital stamp from The Greeting Farm.  She is coloured with copic markers and finished with US ArtQuest mica paints on her wings, lips, and hair highlights.

The mica paints really come to life when the card is tilted.

Fairy Kisses will be entered into the challenges at Sunday Sketch and Stamp, Flutter By Wednesday #89,  and Cupcake Crafts.

Thank you for looking!

Details

Stamps: The Greeting Farm, Imaginisce

Paper: Bo Bunny Persuasion, Bazzill, Prism, Lynx

Ink: Memento, Versamark

Embellishments: Copics, US ArtQuest mica paints,  Kaiser pearls, misc ribbon, Nestabilities Labels One , Sizzlits 4-pk Lots of Tags, Stampin' Up embossing powder 

Season's Greetings to All!

With two young children our household has been extremely busy the past few days but I promise to post a card or two tomorrow.  I am excited to play with my presents which include distress reinkers and a variety of new stamps from a few of my favorite companies including Magnolia, C.C. Designs, Paper Makeup Stamps, and Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps.  The lure of boxing day shopping was too hard to resist and my mailbox will receive happy mail from Magnolia-licious and Stamp and Create in the new year.  Stamp and Create sells a wonderful selection of charms, spacers, and stamps (of course!) which include The Greeting Farm and Mo's Digital Pencil in rubber.

Enough about my goodies though as patience is not my strong suit and waiting for mail this time of year is just plain painful.  Recently I stumbled across a new Canadian digital stamp company which is launching in the new year - Prairie Fairy Stamps.  Roberta currently has a blog candy offering for those willing to spread the word of her upcoming launch. 

From the sneak peeks that I have seen, I am anxiously awaiting for her shop to open and the best part of her blog candy is the choice of FIVE Prairie Fairy digital stamps.  Please check out the Prairie Fairy blog for your chance to win and to support a Canadian entrepreneur!

Thank you for stopping by and enjoy the holidays!

A Tilda for my Sweetie

After a day of cleaning, this evening after tucking the monsters in bed, I finished up a Christmas card for my darling husband.  Following the sketch at a Spoon Full of Sugar and the colour challenge at Roses on Paper, I put together this darling card with Tilda from the new winter kit (Thanks Christine!).

Tilda will also be entered into the current challenge at Quixotic (lace).  Tilda was coloured with copics and  white gel pen was used to finish her earrings and place a dot on each cheek.

Thank you for looking!

Details

Stamps: Magnolia, Close to My Heart (sentiment and heart)

Paper: Stampin' Up!

Ink: Memento, Versamark

Embellishments: lace, Kaiser Pearls, Martha Stewart border punch, Spellbinders, copics, gold embossing powder

Posy in the Middle

Last Saturday's challenge at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps blog was Sparkle, Baby!  With an abundance of little girls' birthday parties on the horizon, I embraced this challenge with enthusiasm.  What little princess between the ages of three and seven years doesn't love pink, glitter, and sparkly gems?  Answer: None in our extended family.  So without further introduction, here once again is the beautiful Posy.

This card is 5" x 5" as specified in the Cupcake Crafts challenge and is also an aperature card which is the current challenge at Cute Card Thursday.  A close-up of Posy reveals the abundance of stickles - on her shoes, dress trim, pocket appliques, dazzling diamonds on her barrettes and roses, and pink rhinestones as buttons down her dress.

The inside of the card mirrors the flower on the front and also shows that Posy was backed with Basic Grey paper to hide the bleed through on the back of the Prism paper caused by the copic markers.

Posy will also be entered into challenges on the Basic Grey Challenge blog and Charisma Cardz blog.

Thank you for looking!

Details

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps, Close to My Heart

Paper: Basic Grey, Bazzill, Prism

Ink: Memento, Stampin' Up

Embellishments: Spellbinders, stickles, Stampin' Up dazzling diamonds, copics, Reflections rhinestones

The Kindness of Others

The majority of my cards do not have a recipient already picked before they are finished so this card is extra special.  One day as I was frantically trying to locate my son in the boot room, his teacher reassured me that my son could never slip out undetected.  Not only does she watch out for him, but also the other teacher whose class shares the same boot room watches for him too - that she has "adopted" him as one of hers given his tardy nature of dressing and undressing.  Sadly, I don't know this teacher's name, but this card is for her.  Her kindness provides relief to my hectic day and reminds me that others do care.

This lovely angel happens to teach the grade one Logos program at my son's school which encouraged me to use my new Close to My Heart Christmas sentiment set both on the outside and inside of the card.

This card will be accompanied by Candy Cane Brownie mix and a thank you note. 

Mercy Kerin created the amazing sketch for Flutter By Wednesday which was used for the front of this card.  Tilda will be entered in three challenges - Flutter By Wednesday, Pink Elephant, and Simon Says Challenge.

Thank you for looking!

Details

Stamps: Magnolia, Close to My Heart

Ink: Memento, Stampin' Up, Versamark

Paper: SU cardstock, Making Memories Mistletoe

Embellishments: Copics, smooch ink, stickles, Kaiser pearls, Prima flowers, Martha Stewart branch punch, Stampin' Up dazzling diamonds and ribbon

Paper Makeup Show-Off

On Fridays, Paper Makeup Stamps posts their Makeup 4 the Weekend challenge on the PMS blog.  Last week I received happy mail from PMS - my order of three new fairies!  Monday I stamped and coloured the beautiful Holly Fairy and completed my very first Makeup 4 the Weekend challenge!

On December 5th I took a card class at Urban Scrapbook using Webster's Pages.  The class required detailed cutting to be completed prior to the class.  It was those cards which inspired me to not only use this paper but to cut it up!  I glittered the tree oval with Stampin' Up dazzling diamonds and glittered the star and Holly's wings with Stickles. 

A close up of Holly shows that she was coloured with copics and the fur trim on her coat and boats has been textured with Marvy liquid applique.

Thank you for taking the time to look!

Details

Stamps: Paper Makeup Stamps

Paper: Webster's Pages, Bazzill, Prism

Ink: Memento

Embellishments: Spellbinders, Marvy liquid applique, Copics, Stampin' Up dazzling diamonds, Storytellers and Little Storytellers by Webster's Pages

Happy New Year Doraline!

This week's challenge at Motivet is monochromatic which gave me the wonderful opportunity to combine it with the sketch at Friday Sketchers, the monochromatic theme at A Spoon Full of Sugar, and the challenge this week at Crazy 4 Challenges (snowflake paper).  I took the opportunity to practice advanced colouring techniques from my Coloring Craze II class at My Creative Classroom.  As the new year is quickly approaching, this image of Doraline appeared eager to welcome it with open arms. 

She was coloured first with copics and then Lyra pencils.

I tried a new setting on my sewing machine for the stitching around all the mats on the card and for the first time, I was actually pleased with the results. 

Our household this past week has been full of firsts and discussions of traditions that we hope to start and continue into the new year.  As our son, 6 years, has been looking for answers in the holiday celebrations, we decided to direct his attention towards the Saints and not Santa Claus.  This year we discussed St. Nicholas and the origins of Santa Claus and taking up the traditions of my husband's ancestrial home including Santa Lucia.  My background is murky at best with a strong English influence tossed with Scottish, Irish, and Dutch for good measure.  My husband and I are eager to turn our children's attention away from the commercialism which dominates this time of year in North America and concentrate on holiday traditions around the world.

Thank you for looking and I hope you are enjoying your holiday celebrations!

Details
Stamps: Motivet, Stampin' Up!
Ink: Memento, Versamark
Paper: Bazzill and Lynx cardstock, retired SU designer series paper
Embellishments: SU grosgrain ribbon, hodgepodge hardware, and silver embossing powder, unknown ribbon, sewing machine, Recollections rhinestone stickers, copics, Lyra pencils, stickles
  

A Christmas Fairy

This image has been coloured for a couple weeks now but has been just waiting.  Tonight I made a mad dash to complete her in time for the Friday Sketchers challenge to no avail.  However, she will be entered into the challenges at Everybody Art Challenge (red & green), Charisma Cardz (red/green & white), Stampavie and More (red & green), Die Cuts R Us (holiday feel), Creatalicious Challenges (Christmas/sparkle/glitter), Simon Says Challenge (let it snow), and Danni's wonderful Flutter By Wednesday.

Details
Stamps: Sugar Nellie
Paper: Little Yellow Bicycle, Lynx cardstock
Ink: Memento, Stampin' Up!
Embellishments: stickles, SU! dazzling diamonds, Cuttlebug die, SU circle punch, sewing machine, copics, nestabilities

Thank you for looking!

Motivet - Take Four!

Just a quick post this morning as I am running late for work.  Here is my entry for Motivet's fourth challenge.  The image is coloured with Koh-I-Noor pencils and blended with odourless thinner.  The balloons were stamped and individually cut out before using versamark and three coats of glassy enamel.  The balloon strings are actually waxy floss from Close to My Heart.

Thank you for looking!

Happy Everything Yvette

One of Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps latest releases is the extremely happy Yvette - perfect for everything from congratulations, get better soon, good luck, happy spring (one of the sentiments included with her), happy birthday, happy everything! (The other sentiment that comes with her.)  I choose her for my mother's card for a nice change from the typical December birthday card.

I followed the card layout from Saturday Sketchers for the front of the card and I followed Niki's design for the inside of the card. 

Yvette will be entered into the challenges at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps (gift card holder), Sketch Saturday (sketch), Cute Card Thursday (swirly girly), Charisma Cardz (dreaming of summertime) - whoops missed the deadline!, Crazy 4 Challenges (gift card holder), and lastly A Spoon Full of Sugar (monochromatic).

The flowers were made following Marianne's flower tutorial.

Thank you for looking!

Details

Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps and Stampin' Up

Paper: Basic Grey 'Eva', Bazzill and Lynx cardstock

Ink: Memento, Stampin' Up

Embellishments: SU! ribbon, Martha Steward border punch and rhinestones, flower punches, copics, Koh-I-Noor pencils

Walking in a Winter Wonderland!

The challenge this week at Cupcake Crafts is to sing a Christmas carol which combines nicely with the challenge at Pink Elephant which is to use your favorite Christmas colour combination.  This card is following an old sketch from Everybody Art Challenge that I never entered.  The sentiment on the inside of the card is embossed in white and simply states "Winter Wonderland".  The paper used is from one of my favorite lines this season - Basic Grey's Eskimo Kisses.  The stamp featured is Clara from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps.

Clara's skirt is paper pieced and her scarf and cuffs are touched up with US Artquest mica paints.  I love the co-ordinating papers which made it easy to choose a variety for both the front and inside.

The inside was stamped with flourishes from Close to My Heart in Stampin' Up pink pirouette ink and then traced with two way glue and sprinkled with dazzling diamonds.

Thank you for looking!

Details
Stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps, Close to My Heart
Paper: Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses, Stampin' Up, Prism
Ink: Stampin' Up, Memento, Versamark
Embellishments: Basic Grey brads, SU dazzling diamonds, Spellbinders Nestabilities, Cuttlebug snowflake dies, copics, US ArtQuest mica paints

Third Time is a Charm with Motivet!

At least that is my hope.  Motivet's sketch challenges have two opportunities for winning.  The first winner is selected by one of two owners based on their own preference and the second is random.  Motivet has it covered from all angles.  This week I'm excited about my card as everything just seemed to flow fairly smoothly.  Oh sure, I did the normal...buttons?  nah... bow?  nah...  I tend to examine several options before choosing papers and embellishments.  Although the sketch called for a sentiment, I just did not have anything in my collection that seemed right for the job.  I have a new Dymo labeller that will do the trick nicely once I invest in a couple different label colours.  The sentiment will be simply Happy.  How can one not stop and smile at the two kids racing down the hill on the sled?

The texture and dimension on this card is amazing.  The ribbon is actually velour - super soft.  The flowers were purchased from Michael and have just been snipped or pulled off the stem.  The center of the small white flowers are actually Basic Grey's painted brads which match their paper line Eskimo Kisses.  The challenge this week at Everybody Art Challenge is stitching.

Details

Stamps: Motivet

Ink: Memento

Paper: Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses, Stampin' Up cardstock

Embellishments: copics, silk flowers from Michaels, bulk ribbon from local scrapbook store, Basic Grey painted brads and bling it swirls, spellbinders, SU dazzling diamonds

This card will be entered into Motivet's sketch challenge and the Everybody Art Challange.

Thank you for looking!

A Sugar Fairy for the Bowl

Today I worked on my entry for tomorrow's Sugar Bowl using Manga Fairy.  She has been coloured with Lyra pencils and then given some sparkle with US Artquest Mica paints and Stampin' Up! dazzling diamonds.  After embossing the background cardstock, I coloured the raised images with the mica paints.  The stars and decorations on the trees have been glittered with dazzling diamonds.

I love this paper by My Mind's Eye however if it did have any zig zag patterns, I obviously didn't pick it up.  So, I created my own!  It was interesting matching up the stripes but I was pleased with the final results.  The inside was kept fairly simple with dry embossing across the top edge of the writing space and ric rac and paper which matched the front.

Details
Stamps: Sugar Nellie Manga Fairy
Ink: Staz-On
Paper: My Mind's Eye, Lynx and Stampin' Up! cardstock
Embellishments: SU dazzling diamonds and ric rac, Martha Stewart rhinestones, Cuttlebug embossing folder, US Artquest mica paints, Lyra pencils

Thank you for looking!

The Good, Bad and Great News!

The good news is that Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps has selected the upcoming guest designers and I am looking forward to seeing their work.  The bad news is that I know this because it is not me.  But why dwell on things that cannot be changed?  I'm choosing to focus on the GREAT news - I get to share my submission creations!  Do I start with my favorite of the three submissions?  Well of course because these handmade gifts qualify for the Die Cuts R Us Challenge - double bonus!

For one of my three submissions I decided to create something other than the typical card.  I choose to do a room plaque and matching picture frame for my daughter's room (fabulous Christmas gift idea - in fact, two friends have since asked for me to make them for their girls!).

I was surprised to find exactly what I was looking for in papers at Michaels where I purchased the plaque and frame.  Being the first project of this type that I've done, I approached it hesitantly but with determination.  I started by applying a base coat of paint to both wood objects.  Then using Modge Podge, I carefully adhered the paper on each, placed paper side down with weight on top, and allowed to dry.  Once dry, I used a knife to carefully cut around the edge of the paper and on the inside of the photo opening.  Very carefully, I used different distressing methods (sanding blocks, steel sanding files, emery boards) and carefully went around all edges to ensure a smooth distressed edge.

Taryn choose Charlotte and Lillith for the plaque.  Charlotte's "crazy" hair is red to match my own little princess while Lillith is blond after a couple of her cousins.  The images were coloured with Lyra pencils and blended with odorless thinner.  The letters and sentiment were all cut using my Cricut.

The frame features Clara from the Moonlight Whispers line at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps.

Thank you for stopping by and having a look!  Have a fabulous day!