For a pal

This week's Wednesday Stamper challenge is to use trees, and over at Gingersnap Creations, the challenge is the "Good Earth," and the Sisterhood is celebrating Earth Day! I made a card this morning, and quickly trashed it, it was SOOOO ugly! However, a pal of mine (Germaine...who does NOT, as yet, have a blog...for shame!) created this one, which I've decided to post for her. Please do leave her some lovin,' she's not particularly confident as a new card maker, and I think this one ROCKS!

Thanks for stopping by today...and leaving some encouragement for my pal!

LOVING Spring!

Aaahhh, the birds are chirping, the sun is shining, gardening chores await. I am SO grateful for all these signs of spring, after our snowy winter!

I needed a thank you card today, so I went online, checked out the various challenges, and created this one to meet these: the Sisterhood challenge is to find something to be grateful for; Secret Crafters' challenge is "How does your garden grow;" the One Stop challenge is paper piecing; the Flourishes challenge is to use one of three photos as inspiration (I used a floral quilt).

The stamp I used here is from Impression Obsession, coloured with Prismacolour Premier Art Markers and Copics, and I used a Martha Stewart punch on the bottom border. I have a confession to make. When I initially coloured this image, I used blue on a couple of the tulips...the overall look was dreadful! (lol) And BLUE TULIPS? What was I THINKING!? So, I stamped the image again, coloured the offending tulips pink to match the pinks on the band and ribbon, paper pieced them, and voila! Saved! If you look at the close-up, you can see the offending colour underneath the paper pieced tulips. LOVE it when I can save a card from the trash bin! ;)

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today! I wish you a blessed Easter, and a happy, creative week!

Celebrating Mothers!

Over at Impression Obsession, the current challenge is to create art celebrating mothers. What a wonderful idea!

For this card, I used one of Gary Robertson's stamps ("A Day at the Beach") over a distress inked watercolour paper background (for the current Crazy Amigo challenge [inked backgrounds] and the Creative Card Crew challenge, which is vintage) , and an Impression Obsession sentiment stamp from this set. I don't know if you can see them, but in the bottom left corner, I glued three tiny seashells. I'll send this one along to my daughter, a busy Mum of four little boys, along with a "treat-yourself" coffee card.

I wanted to use spring colours today, so these two cards were created with the fabulous new "Cover-a-Card" Flourish stamp. They're HUGE, and so easy to stamp with the Mega Mount a 6" by 6" acrylic handle that rocks gently as you stamp. You can see the full line of Cover a Card stamps here...worth a look...SO versatile!! These cards fit with the Everybody Art Challenge,which is spring; Gingersnap Creation's Spring Growth and Renewal;" the current Pick Three challenge, and challenge # 4 over at Paper Garden Projects, which is embossing.

I stamped and embossed several pretty colours with this background stamp, so now I have oodles of delightful hearts and butterflies to use!

Now don't forget, you can enter the Impression Obsession challenges too! By using your own IO stamps and posting to this blog, you'll also be entered to win a $25 gift certificate for Impression Obsession stamps! See all the details, along with a schedule of upcoming challenges, right here. We'd LOVE to see what you create. Don't forget to stop by the other IO designers' blogs to see some paper delight. The links to their blogs are on my sidebar.

Thanks again for taking the time from your busy day to stop by. I wish you a happy, creative day.

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!