Monday, February 28, 2011

One Layer Wednesday (OLW) - Music

The One Layer Wednesday #43 challenge this week was given by Jennifer and it is all about Music.  Well I looked and there were only 2 stamp options I had.  Both were just small images so I decided I had to be creative.  Sadly, my final result is simply pathetic!! Yuck!!  So I cut it up and added some layers and that helped .. a tiny bit!!  Sheesh!  I might just take a second stab at it later this week.  I took a close up as I added some holographic embossing powder to the frame to try to spice it up a bit ...

Here is the close up and the "adjusted" card:

Thanks for dropping in.  I've got lots of inspiration for you in the coming week so make sure you drop back in for a visit.
     Donelda

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Clean and Simple (CAS) 107 - Make Your Own Background

The Clean and Simple #107 this week was a very intersting one ... make your own background.  I thought lots about my options and decided to go with a ink direct to paper technique. 

Using my Color Q inks (Hero Arts) I swiped 2 colors of blue, green, and yellow inks across a piece of white cardstock.  Then I stamped over them (Rustic Branches, Birds of a Feather, Out on a Limb sets, all from Papertrey Ink) in Chocolate Chip ink (SU!).

I kept the card very Clean and Simple to keep the focus on the background.  Just a few brads and dimensional foam tape. 
                                                     
Thanks to all of those who leave comments.  I appreciate it so much!

Donelda

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Popsicle Smile

This was such a fun card to make!!   Last week you saw all my new products ... this was one of those images from one of the gStudio sets.  I acutally cut the senitment from the iamge (I know ...gasp!!) and then stamped the popsicle repeatedly along a light pencil line.  Then I colored them in with my Copics, added the sentiment, some ribbon, and a bit of matting. 

For some interest, I added some Glossy Accents (Ranger) on top of each to make them glossy like a real icy treat! 









This card meets the challenge over on Marks Finest Papers - which was to make a card using FOOD

Mmmmmmm, these guys are making me want an orange popsicle ... my favorite!!

Thanks for visiting!
Donelda

PTI - Make It Monday #3 - Glitter Strips - Apple Well

This week's Make It Monday #3 on Nichole Heady's blog is to use glitter strips with sco re tape.  Here is my creation -- proudly made with all scraps (with the exception of the card base).  Yup, all those components you see were in my "bin" so I used them LOL!! 

All supplies are Papertrey Ink unless indicated - Stamps: Teacher's Apple, Wedding Day, Vintage Picnic; Ink - Pure Poppy, New Leaf; Paper - Pure Poppy; Other - glitter (Stampin' Up!), dimensionals.

I can't wait to see what this coming MIM #4 is going to be!!

Thanks for dropping in.
Donelda

Thinking of You - Deer Scene

Another scene card this time created using the adorable set called Laughter (American Crafts).  The animals in the set are adorable.  And see that sun and cloud, they are also a stamp in the set which lends to creating cute little scenes like this one.

The frame that is around the scene (which is a greenish-yellow color in real life!) was an item from my scrap bin ... something that I was going to use on another card and decided not to at the time.  I think it looks great here around little Bambi. It is up on dimensionals! The sentiment is from Beyond Basic Borders (Papertrey Ink).  I created the grass by flicking color on the bottom with a Copic marker (YG95). 

This card could be used for many occasions - love creating cards like that!!

Have a great day today!!
Donelda

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

A Boy and His Dog - Paper Piecing


Good evening everyone.  I wanted to use some of the new stuff I bought and to participate in one of the Moxie Fab challenges that are going on right now.   I haven't done some paper piecing lately and I knew this October Afternoon stamp set called Kite Tales would work perfectly.  This little boy and his dog are adorable!!  Going through all the designer paper that I have gathered in an attempt to use some (for a change) I decided to us the Mellow 6x6 pad (BasicGrey).  I choose 4 of the patterns - stripes (for his shirt), brown solid (for his pants), green solid (for his speech bubble), and cloud page (for the background).  The sentiment is from Mixed Messages (Papertrey Ink)  See
that awesome grass ... it is a piece of Banana Leaf Festive paper by Creative Imaginations.  It is the coolest stuff ... soft and green and flexible!  I fringed it and then smooshed it all around the boy and dog's feet. 

This was a FUN card to create. 


Thanks for dropping in.  Off to see what others paper pieced for the challenge.
Donelda

New Toys!!

Hey Everyone! 
I was a very bad girl this past weekend LOL!!  You see, I have been trying to not spend money on supplies since I have so many that I could craft for a century and not run out!  However, I went to my local scrapbook store yesterday ... specifically to pick up a new t!m holtz ruler (do not try to clean sticky glue off the back of this ruler .... the grid will come off ... don't ask how I know!).  And guess what ... they were out of rulers.  So, I just decided to browse a little .. and there were so many beautiful papers on sale ... and they just jumped into my basket (don't ask why I was holding a basket) .. and then some sale stamps jumped in to join them ... and a few other items jumped in too and they weren't even on sale ... sheesh!  I came home with a whole bunch of goodies! 

I decided to share it all with you!   I have no idea how to edit or upload a video so I just decided to go with photos .... here you go if you are intested:


Starting out with some adorable Studio g samps.  They aren't the best quality but these 4 sets with small images really caught my eye.  They are adorable.  Remember you should be able to click on an image to see it larger -- then you can see how cute these images are!


A few images from Stampendous.  Before Christmas I had purchased another scene one from them because I adored the card Kim Crawford made.  I think this scene is different from the other one! LOL!

And as many of you know, I have a very limited supply of Copics!  So few that for some of my colors I can't really blend.  so, I decided to pick up a few light colors to go with my purple, pink, yellow, orange, and burnt sienna colors.  This was probably one of the reasons my bill was SO MUCH ... they babies are so expensive!!
 Here is a cute image from The Stamp Barn, a new to me company.  I adore tulips and have big plans for this adorable image!!


 And I can't pass up 50% off Hero Arts Stamps ... that's half price people!!  Can you believe it??!!  See that tulip in there...love it!!  And I had almost bought those lieelt animals before when they were full price .. so glad I didn't!!  Did I mention how much I love giraffes too ... see that adorable guy in there (that makes 3 giraffe stamps now ... probably enough ... right??!!)
I have plans to make something special for ds's awesome teacher with this stamp!! Been trying to find just the right image.

 I actually picked these up at Toys R Us .. they are adorable gourmet lollipops. Inside each is  apretty image, like a flower or a bunch of grapes.  When I saw them I had a brilliant idea ... stay tuned to see what I do with them in the future!!

 And I couldn't make myself go by the Spellbinders wall without throwing these into my bin (or should I say they jumped in!!).  I have always wished I had a longer skinnier die for longer sentiments and these will be perfect.  Not sure about you but I personally like the original dies they made ... the newer ones are just too ornate for me!!


And don't forget, I had been there in the first place to buy a t!m holtz ruler ... so when I was standing in front of that section, these products just jumped from the shelves!!  I've been dying to try the crackle paints (got white and rock candy) and I am sadly short of purple inks in my supplies so this dusty concord was a must ...right??!!
And one more stamp set came home with me...this adorable October Afternoon set called Kite Tales. I really liked the little boy and the puppy dog (I have only 1 dog image in my stash).  and besides this guy was 75% off ... what's a girl to do??!!

And now.... on to the beautiful, lushious papers .....
 I think BasicGrey was brilliant to bring out a line of Basics!  And when I saw them in 6x6 pads I jumped up and down with a little bit of a scream.  I have been asking my LSS to bring in small pads (6x6 or 8x8) for a while now ... nice to see they listened.  So, how does one decide to get the Kraft, Manilla, or White ... one can't so she buys all three!!  LOL!!
 And then there is teh Origins collection ... at 50% off the regular price .. just couldn't pass it up!  Again, lots of greens and browns and yellows ... perfect for masculine flavoured cards. 
 and they had the Curio Paper Pad which is very interesting.  There is a black frame around each sheet ... interesting.  I'm not sure if I like that or not ... I didn't notice it when I was at the store (you can imagine the flurry of action as these items were jumping into my basket as I tried to restrain them onto the shelves ... no wonder I didn't notice ...)
And I just had to get this Olivia pad of paper ... I had the Oliver pad in there for a moment but in a second of strength put it back and decided to stick with the one which I liked the most patterns. 


 This is a newly released product (released during CHA).  I don't often buy My Minds Eye paper but I saw it on Kristina Werner's blog and thoguht it would be fun to have.  Besides there is doily papers in each pack and they are so the rage right now!
And I am loving this Cosmo Cricket paper pack .. the colors are awesome, red, yellow, blue, and chocolate paired with a vanilla color!  They are all very vintage looking ... mmmmm, not my typical style.  Should make for some interesting projects!

And now on to a new growing passion ... October Afternoon ....

 These must not sell well at my local LSS as I keep seeing them on sale so I keep picking them up ... and I am in love with the awesome images on the pages.  This first pad is Campfire:
 like these adorable trees....
 and there are always some basic patterns like this red with white polka dots....
 and these great bold bright stripes ....
and check this page out ... it totally reminded me of the Hundred Acres Wood from Winnie the Pooh.  I have lots of projects in mind for these papers!

And I also found the pad called Seaside ... perfect for this water loving family!!!
 These bright, wide stripes are awesome ....
 and some barn wall pattern ... and it is in red too....
 and these great red and white stripes are to die for ...
Well, I hope I have not bored you to tears!   Now I'm off to do some creating with it all .... what fun!!
Have a great week!
Donelda

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Stylish Blogger Award!

Hey everyone!  Deb over at Deborah's Gems was such a sweetie to give me this Stylish Blogger Award!  That was so kind. 

I am to tell you 8 things about myself and then foward the award to 8 recently discovered crafters.  I've added a few new blogs to my favorites file so I want to share this with each of them!! 

Things about myself: I use a hard pillow, I love peanut butter on apple slices!, both my girl cats have boy names (don't ask!), my favorite flower is the daffodil, I am a terrible speller (thank goodness for spell check), I am a bluenoser!, I am also a very proud Canadian, I did a bit of rock climbing when I was younger!

Blogger is not letting me upload the award image.  I'll try uploading it later.

Thanks again Deb!!!
Donelda

Stamping with Markers Challenge - Moxie Fab

Hi fellow card makers (and anyone else who enjoys visiting my little corner of the www!).  Today I am playing along with the Moxie Fab challenge of Stamping with Markers!   I decided to try something fun.

Are you wondering how I got these colors onto a piece of black cardstock?  It's easy, let me tell you how to do it!   First, adhere your black cardstock with non-permanent adhesive to your work surface. We do not want it moving around.  Then, using a stamp positioning system (I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig), stamp your solid image (this one is from smARTworks) onto the black cardstock using a white or vanilla ink (I used Vintage Cream by Papertrey Ink).  Make sure you leave the Stamp-a-ma-jig in the same place!!  You can stamp again with more of that ink color to make it bright!  I stamped my image twice.  Make sure you clean your stamp well at this point.  Next the fun part.  Using your markers, color directly onto your stamp, layering colors and laying on as much color as you can.  Then, spray a light mist of water over top of the inked up stamp.  Be careful here ...not too much and not too little water!  (You might need to experiment a bit with this before trying it on your black cardstock)  Then, simply stamp the colors on top of the white image (it will be easy because you have left the cardstock and Stamp-a-ma-jig in the same place.  You can keep coloring and stamping various times until the color is how you like it.  I colored, spritzed, and stamped the marker colors 3 times to get this vibrant color!!  I used 4 markers: Summer Sun, Garden Green, Cameo Coral, and Ruby Red (all Stampin' Up!). 
What a great and different way to Stamp with Markers!!

To finish the card, I adhered a Vellum Sentiment Strip (the current Make It Monday challenge over on Nichole Heady's blog) with the sentiment (from Through the Trees, Papertrey Ink), sewed around a piece of designer paper (from Stella Rose 6x6, My Minds Eye), and popped up the focal image.  All of this was added to a white card base.  It is pretty Clean and Simple, one of my favorite styles these days!!

I can't wait to see what everyone else did with markers.  Hopping over to Moxie Fab to see.
Thanks for dropping in!

Donelda

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Less Is More Challenge #3 - Spring

The latest challenge on the Less Is More challenge blog is easy ... SPRING!  When I think of spring I think of flowers, especially looking forward to to my daisy's coming up!  So I decided to do white stamping on Kraft cardstock ... and then the yummy color combo of Kraft, White, and Chocolate Chip got the best of me and I actually made 2 cards!  Here they are:


Stamps: Garden of Life, Beautiful Blooms (both Papertrey Ink)


Stamps: Beautiful Blooms, Green Thumb, Birthday Basics (all Papertrey Ink)

Well, that was fun!  LOL!!  I love it when I get on a roll.  Off to see what everyone else did with this challenge.
Donelda

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Monthly Image Challenge Swap - Linda's Image - Feb

Well, Linda and I are at it again and this time we have invited a bunch of friends!!  Linda mailed this adorable Tilda image out to all of us and then we created our own version of the cards.  I was able to take a peek at some of the others' cards and decided that I wanted to create something really different from everything  that the other very talented ladies had done. 

Here is my first card.  I colored it using my Prisma Pencilcolors.  And I attempted to make it a SEPIA colored card.   And then, I decided to go with my clean and simple style!  I was tempted to add some of those lovely flowers like everyone else did ... but I am sure that mine would pale in comparison so I just added some lace along the bottom and a small thin strip of satin ribbon. 


Here's a little close up of the coloring.  Remember you can click on the image to make it a bit bigger if you'd like.  








And of course I couldn't just stop there ... I had to create a second card (thank goodness Linda sent a few images!).  This time, I created a card that is a bit more typically "Tilda" :-)

I colored this Tilda with my Copic markers (I have so few so I just make do with what I have!).   I wanted this Tilda to look like she was peeking out, so I cut it down and added a piece of this seam binding ribbon.  Last night I spritzed it with some Gimmer Mist (Tattered Angels) in Electric Blue and Shimmer Silver and then squanched it all up to dry!! 

The rest of the card is pretty straight forward! 

Well, there you have it!!  If you are interested in seeing everyone's final cards you can go HERE where they are all together!  This is so much fun.  And the best part is that we are doing it again ... every month for the next year!!  Can't wait to recieve my next image so we can see how different everyone's card ends up!!!

Thanks for dropping in!  Have a great rest of your weekend!
Donelda