Playtime!

The Cuttlebug challenge today is to create a pop-up card. I've NEVER done before, and I am spatially-perceptually challenged (at BEST) so this was way outside my box! (lol) This is my first, using the Textiles Texture embossing folder with Core-dinations colour core cardstock, a computer generated sentiment, some Prima flowers and the Martha Stewart leaf and border punches. The inside looked a little plain, so I added another flower and a few beads from my ever expanding collection. ;) The sentiment outside is computer generated, and the sentiment inside is Impression Obsession. This one's also for the current Creative Card Crew challenge, which is to do something vintage. I always like the vintage look of this particular folder!

Well, I had such fun creating this one that I decided to do another for some very special little boys. The stamps are all Impression Obsession, and the eggs and the inside were cut with my Silhouette SD electronic cutter. This one fits the current Charisma Cardz challenge, which is "Springtime," and for the Pick Three challenge. (I used the colour combination of green, pink and yellow, my Silhouette (which I'm just getting back to this week, having owned it for a year!), and an image with an "S" (the silhouette diorama inside). I really liked this week's Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger too...hope my eggs fit theirs! ;) And the Wednesday Stamper challenge this week is EGGS!

Now over at Created by Hand, the challenge is "Don't worry be hoppy," so I cut this wee bunny with the Silhouette too, and stamped these beautiful flourish stamps along the borders, and the musical score on a paper flower. Once again, I used the Textiles Texture embossing folder...can you tell this is my very favourite folder? (lol) I DO have loads and loads of them, but I always seem to come back to this one. The challenge over at Cards blog is to use eight colours...this fits!

Thanks for visiting today,I'll try to stop by your place too! ;)

Birthdays 'n' such...

The "Lots to do" challenge this week is vintage. Here's a piece I did with supplies from Crafty Secrets. I visited a dear friend in Victoria British Columbia earlier this month, and was lucky enough to catch a Scrapbooking Expo out there. Well, Sandy's "Crafty Secrets" booth was absolutely positively enchantingly FABULOUS! Hope I've done some of her beauties justice. I've used Flower Soft and glitters and punches and pearls...well...Victorian vintage is always so over-the-top OPULENT, isn't it!? ;)

Here's the full piece, and I've posted close-ups as well.








My friend's little girl said "It looks just like a playhouse for fairies..."isn't that just the BEST!? I have a feeling that "Crafty Secrets" might well become a bigger part of my paper crafting future!

Here's another vintage piece. I used my Silhouette cutter to create this card, with a vintage ship cutting file I purchased from Mary over at Mamaw's Legacy , and a sentiment stamp from Impression Obsession, paired with the longest Shapeabilities Tags Five label from Spellbinders. I find it such a challenge to create cards for men, so I was really pleased with this one. Mary's cutting files are wonderful! This card also fits with the "Pick Three" challenge. (I used an image that starts with "S," a tool I haven't used in a while [my Silhouette cutter...I've owned it for nearly a year, but this week, I've been cutting up a storm! lol], and a tiny bit of black ribbon)

Over at Moxie Fab World, and at Paper Sundaes, the challenge is paper piecing. This is a card with images I stamped, coloured, and pieced from Hanna Stamps, and sentiments from Stamping Bella. I also used a page from an old French book, brayered with a Kaliedacolour Ink Pad.

The Charisma Cardz challenge this week is "Spring." This card uses the Silhouette lacy butterflies background (cutting file from Quickutz), and a stamp from Hero Arts. The butterflies were punched with a Martha Stewart punch, then glittered with gold Glitter Ritz from Quietfire Design. This card also fits the "spring and new growth" challenge over at Gingersnap Creations.

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit today. I wish you a creative weekend!

Wedding and Easter cards

Oooohhh, it is SO NICE to be home again, playing in my happy room!

The challenge at Created by Hand this week is..."My heart dances." Just LOVE that! The challenge at Paper Sundaes is paper piecing, and the Creative Card Crew challenge is "going dotty." The "Diecut Dreams" challenge is to create something with a "new beginnings" theme. Over at Gingersnap Creations, the theme is "growth." I needed to make a wedding card, so I used the challenge as a guide. The diecut couple was done with my Silhouette SD and the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder; the stamp is from Quietfire Design.

Over at Cuttlebug Challenges, they're encouraging Easter creations...with some stamping, and the Wednesday Stamper challenge is spring. . So I used my electronic cutter again, and paired my diecuts with stamps from Impression Obsession, Paperbag Studios and Stampendous. Have you seen the new "Cover-a-Card" stamps from Impression Obsession? They're GORGEOUS!

I computer generated text for this one, and set it inside the "Flourished Farm" embossing folder.This is my very favourite folder! The pretty lace stamp is from the "Believe" set from Paperbag Studios.

This card uses the Argyle embossing folder (for the basket) and one of the four Cuttlebug embossing folders from the "With Love" embossing border set. The stamps are Impression Obsession Cover-a-Card medallion stamp, and a very old Stampendous Easter Egg border.

Here, I used more diecuts with the same Impression Obsession stamp, and embossed one of the eggs with the Textile Texture embossing folder.

Just have to tell you, I'm using a new-to-me glue, called Zip Dry,from Beacon Adhesives. What GREAT stuff! No paper warping at all, and dries almost as fast as you use it.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! I wish you a creative and playful week.

It's a ME Day!!

The Impression Obsession design team challenged each other to create a card that represents how we'd indulge ourselves if we had an entire day to do whatever we wanted. GREAT timing! I just came home after seven weeks travelling, and while my time away was wonderful, I am just TICKLED PINK to be home again, where my two obsessions...paper crafting and gardening...have languished from a lack of attention (lol).

So I decided to combine my obsessions today, and created this card as my homecoming paper crafting project. The challenge on "Cute Card Thursday" this week is to create cards marking anniversaries...birthdays...defined as "anything you like to celebrate each year." For gardeners, the ritual celebration of spring is always SO exciting, as we plant new beauties, and care for old favourites that come back faithfully year after year. The background was done with Ecoline watercolour inks mixed in a Ranger Mini Mister with plain old water and a drip or two of Winsor and Newton Iridescent Medium. After mixing them up, I masked an area on the left side with chipboard hearts, then sprayed the watercolour paper with the Ecoline Inks mixture. Then I stamped the IO watering can image and the sentiment with Versafine Coal Black Ink, and decorated with some Prima flowers, Martha Stewart punched leaves, and a few inches of ribbon.

Remember, you can enter the Impression Obsession challenges too, using your Impression Obsession stamps. See the I.O. blog for all the details. You'll be entered in the draw for a $25 IO gift certificate.

I hope you'll have some time to look at the other designers' cards....links are at the right...you'll see some delightful inspiration.

So now that I've spent lovely hours in my happy room, spring cleaning awaits, out in my gardens. Thanks so much for stopping by today. I wish you a lovely day, doing whatever your heart desires!

For the men in our lives

I always find it a challenge to create cards for men. I created these cards for Jen's paper crafting store in Ottawa (the Scrap Box) from a wonderful line of papers they carry, called "A Proper Gentleman," from Graphic 45. They're all so beautifully coordinated that the cards almost make themselves. The papers come in 12 by 12, and in smaller designs in an 8" by 8" pad. Jen carries them all! If these papers "need you," Jen's shop is located at 5510 Canotek Road.

I've been in Ottawa for a month this time, spending delightful time with family and old friends, and it's been SUCH a treat to be able to spend time with other paper crafters (and new friends!), doing what we all love to do. Mostly, I enjoy paper crafting alone, but I've had a BALL with a group of friendly and funny Ottawa women during the past few weeks! (Now if I could only convince some of them to move to Nova Scotia...)

Tomorrow I'm flying out to Victoria (on Canada's west coast, in British Columbia) to spend a couple of weeks with more old friends, then I'll be back home mid-March, with just a little time to wait till I start my next addiction for the season...gardening!

So...on to the cards! I enjoy browsing current challenges for inspiration when I have a slew of cards to do. I could use THIS one for all those times I've put my great big foot in my mouth with my better half! I think I'll make a dozen, just to have on hand.(chuckling...)

I did this card and posted it for a challenge over at TwoPeas yesterday. Daria has posted a very easy tutorial for using scraps to create beautiful cards!

This one's for One Powerful Hour (faces) and the Pick Three challenges. I did a birthday card that could be from a group; outlined the trio of images with Krylon gold leafing ink, and I used green and beige together...two colours I don't often use.

I'm not sure if you can see it, but the card above was done with a transparency as a front flap...you might be able to see the Cuttlebug embossing if you look closely (lol) . The inside is a Nesties label that reads (of course...) "Well darling I'm telling you now!"

This nexr card's for the Cute Card Thursday challenge ...ribbons!

This is a generic card, and could easily be used as a "Get Well" card for someone you love, which is the current Creative Card Crew challenge.

Umm, this second view was taken before I used the buttons...

Thanks for stopping by today!

Challenges again...

This week's Created by Hand challenge is Mardi Gras, as is the Mixed Media Monday challenge. The Wednesday Stamper challenge is Carnival. I had such FUN using this Judikins stamp with oodles and oodles of glitter, and Quietfire has it all!

Glitter Ritz Microfine Royal Blue
Glitter Ritz Microfine Chartreuse
Glitter Ritz Microfine Dark Gold
Glitter Ritz Microfine Red
Duo Embellishing Adhesive
Ink: Versafine Pigment Ink, Black
Tsukineko Embossing Powder, Clear
Rubber Stamp Sentiment : The secret of genius

The

Crazy Amigo challenge is stitching. I really enjoy combining hand stitching and beading with stamping, as I did here:

The Creative Card Crew challenge is "Get Well;" here's my first ever Magnolia card...get well flowers for an under-the-weather friend. Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by!

It's been a LONG time...

Well, it's been way too long since I've done any challenges and posted anything here. I've been away from home for several weeks now, and won't be back in town till March 15th. It's a blast spending time with my grandkidlets during the "Winterlude" activities in Ottawa, and I'm really looking forward to spending a couple of weeks in Victoria with my old friend Lesley, but it's been SO hard being away from papercrafting! (lol) So I found a GREAT scrapbooking shop here in Ottawa (The Scrap Box) where Jenn (the very gracious owner) kindly hosts a free crop on Thursday afternoons for old gals. It's been great to meet some kindred spirits/addicts in papercrafting, and it's been so nice using the 'bug and nesties again (lol). So here are some new things for my blog!

This easel card is for the current Saturday Crafters' challenge, which is to use "multifolds." This stamp is one of my old favourites from Paper Bag Studios. In case you can't see the sentiment, it reads "May you love all the days of your life."

"Our Creative Corner" folks want us to use something old that's new, and Theme Thursday's challenge is to use flowers. Like so MANY crafters, I have hundreds of Prima flowers languishing in my Happy Room, so I decided to try to use them! This card uses a stamp from Quietfire Design.


The challenge over at "Finally Friday" is to create a hybrid card. This is a wedding card I did for French friends, with a photo of painting I have, and some computer generated text.

This card will be a "thank you for your friendship" card for a friend of mine. It uses Graphics 45 paper from the Renaissance collection with a stamp from Inkadinkado and a new Martha Stewart border punch. Kerry, over at The Stamping Bug, has a really nice challenge on her blog, and she's offering some freebie stamps for some lucky winners, so toddle on over and join her challenge!

This week's alphabet challenge is "P is for Pink." Here's a summery Happy Birthday card done with some cute DCWV paper from the "Nana's Kids" line and a Hero Arts stamp.

I'd like to end this post with a very special card. The "Lots to do" challenge is "love is in the air;" "One Powerful Hour's" challenge is love; "Cute Card Thursday's" challenge is "In the name of love." This is a "commitment card" for two very dear women friends who are celebrating their recent commitment ceremony with six weeks vacation in Australia and New Zealand. I superimposed the vintage image of the two little kissing girls on one of my own photos of White Point Beach in Nova Scotia, where we've all spent time together during the summer.


Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today. It's been FUN participating in some challenges again!