Happy Holidays Card

My daughter needs two Chrismtas cards for tomorrow night - one for the Conductor (of Youth Strings) and one for the Co-ordinator. I had her look through a few of the cards I had already made (but haven't mailed out yet...) but then I decided to make some new cards. I found inspiration for this card at Maureen's blog. I liked her snowflake with the hexagon center, but wanted my snowflake to be more visible. I'm still working on the second card.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Snowflakes
Love to Create - Anything Goes
Charisma Cardz Challenges - Christmas!!
PaperPlay Challenges - Christmas is Coming
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
The Ribbon Girl - Ho Ho Ho

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day. :)


Supplies Used:
Stamps: Christmas background (Stampendous), Sentiment (Hero Arts)
Dies: Wplus9, Spellbinders (hexagons), Sizzix (snowflake)
Inks: Antique Linen, Walnut Stain (TH Distress Inks)
Paper: Neenah Solar White, MME Merry
Ribbon, button, twine

Snowman Gift Tag for CAS-ual Friday's Challenge

Quick post before the kids start coming home...
I loved the turquoise and red colours from the Lawnscaping challenge so much, that I made a Christmas tag for the CAS-ual Friday's gift tag challenge:

 

 

I used my Hero Art's snowman stamp and die. I trimmed off part of the snowman to be flush with the bottom edge of the tag. The sentiment is stamped in Memento Tuxedo black ink and clear embossed. 

 



Have a good day!

Fabulous Colour Combo Challenge at Lawnscaping

This week's Lawnscaping Challenge has started and I'm so excited!! I just love the wonderful colour challenge:

 

I was inspired by all the beautiful creations by the Lawnscaping DT and went right to work creating a gift bag for the challenge.

 

 

I stamped the snowflakes on the bag in an ink shade a little lighter than the kraft bag. I used turquoise ink to colour some white paper and then misted my Penny Black Diamond Pattern stamp with some water and stamped in onto the turquoise paper. I just love the results (but the picture doesn't really show it very well.)  I stamped the Hero Arts sentiment in black (I tried turquoise, but it didn't look good). 

 

I paper-pieced the Lawn Fawn snowman and popped him up with some foam adhesive. I folded the top of the bag and tied a ribbon (from Michaels) around the top. I tried a bow, but felt the ribbon was too bulky.

 

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great night! 





Tag Challenge at Lawnscaping

A quick post to enter my tag in the Lawnscaping Tag Challenge (which ends today!)

 

I wish I had made some more tags for this challenge, but I've been fighting a cough and cold for the last week and I've found it hard to create  very much. But, I am feeling a whole lot better and hope to get back to making some birthday and Christmas cards this week. :)



I used Lawn Fawn's Gnome Sweet Gnome and  Hats Off to You stamp set. The trees and sentiment are Hero Arts, the clouds are Memory Box, and the candy cane is from Paper Smooches.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a good day. :)

Rainbow Challenge DYSU

DYSU challenge #98 is Rainbow!

I used my Lawn Fawn stamp set, 'gnome sweet gnome'. I curved the sentiment and inked it up with a rainbow of colours.

 

 

I originally started with an idea of a tag (not rainbow related, but for the Lawnscaping Tag challenge), but couldn't fit the sentiment on it. As I looked at the sentiment, I started to curve it on the block and it reminded me of a rainbow - and I thought of the DYSU challenge! So a whole new idea came to mind. I messed up my original card (added flowers and then coloured them in - which didn't look good at all), but I was able to use the back of my original card, trim it down, stamp my sentiment and grass, distress it with some HA's Soft Pool ink and pop it up on some dimensional foam on a new card base. I finished off the inside with a cute little gnome and some tiny smiling mushrooms (again using my rainbow colours...pretty much.)

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day. ;)

Hero Arts November Contest

I am so happy that I managed to get my new tag in before the deadline for the latest Hero Arts contest.

 

 

I used my awesome Hero Arts Snow Much Joy snowman and die for this tag (I can't help using it - it is so cute!)

 



I cut the tag (Tim Holtz Tag and Tie Die) twice using Neenah solar white cardstock. I embossed the tag base with my Sizzix snowflake embossing folder and distressed the raised snowflakes with my jumbo dauber and HA's Soft Pool ink. I trimmed the top off the second tag, and ripped the bottom off. I lightly 'coloured' both pieces with the same ink and stamped HA's Snowflake Tree on them. I also used the Soft Pool ink to colour my sheer ribbon and distress the edges of my sentiment banner (Wplus9 banner die).

I paper pieced the hat, holly leaves and scarf on the snowman. The paper is MME's Lost and Found Christmas (snowman's body), Echo Park Very Merry Christmas (hat), Kaiser Craft (leaves) and the scarf is just a scrap of neenah cardstock rubbed with Soft Pool ink.

I added some black enamel accents for the eyes, and glossy accents for the nose. Some shading was done with pencil crayons.

I really enjoyed making this snowman tag. I was quite happy with the embossed background and the perfect size of the snowflakes on the Snowflake Tree stamp.

I'd like to say thank you to my followers (some of which are fairly new) and others who comment on my blog, for their kind words.

Now that I'm done making the tags for the church bazaar (which sold out before we got to the bazaar to look around) I can hopefully start playing in some challenges again. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Tags

Quick post this morning. I am getting ready to head off to school and I am dreading the horrible weather. The winds were strong overnight, and although they have mellowed since, it is still quite windy out there. I'm thankful it is not raining (yet).

I have been working on Christmas tags for the last few weeks (when I can find the time) and here are a few samples of what I have created. (The lighting in my house isn't the greatest for taking pictures at night, and there is no sunshine during this stormy weather - so I apologise for the poor picture quality.) I have made about 25 tags in total so far, but in these designs:

The first two use Hero Arts products for the image (Snow Much Joy, Winking Reindeer), die cut, and sentiment. The third one uses HA sentiment and Penny Black image (the wonder), and the last one uses Wplus9 stamps and die cut (pretty patches: trees).

I tried to work on some more last night, but using kraft for the tags, but I didn't like the results. Hopefully I will get back to make some more later tonight.

Have a good day (and stay safe from the storm, if it is in your area.)

The Play Date Cafe is Celebrating...

its 3rd anniversary!! The challenge ends soon, so check out their blog, here.

I tried to match the colours the best I could. I used my Tim Holtz distress inks. I did a little 'thumping' to combine the two ink colours for the sentiment. I thought it would make a cool effect on the card (give it the look of a flame, like the picture above.)

 

 

 

Everything on the card (except the inks and pencil crayons) is from Hero Arts.

 

I am also entering my card in the following challenges:

 

CAS-ual Fridays - Over the Edge (my large butterfly extends past the edge of the card.)

 

 





A Blog Named Hero - CAS card

 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!



 

Christmas Tags



I was thinking about creating Christmas cards and tags for my church's Christmas Bazaar this year (instead of baking cookies). So I have been playing around with some different types of tags.

 

The first one uses some patterned paper from Penny Black's Madison 6x6 paper pad. The sentiment is from C.C. Designs Holiday Greetings. The tag die is from Tim Holtz; and I cut the bottom of the tag with a corner of my Spellbinders hexagon die.

 

 

My second tag uses a Spellbinders tag die. I used the cute hedgie from 'the wonder' by PB. He is coloured with Copics. 

 

The third tag uses PB's Tweet Christmas. I coloured it with my Copics and cut it out. I used a little strip of paper, behind the red ornament, to make sure it didn't get pulled off the tag since it was only barely attached to the tree once I cut it out. The background is stamped with an IO Wallpaper stamp in Versa Magic Thatch straw. Not sure if I like how bright the Thatch straw is though...

 

 

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!

 



boo!

With Halloween coming soon, I thought I would make a card using my Penny Black 'mimi halloween' stamp set. I coloured mimi with Copics and then cut her out. The dress is purple, but it's hard to see in my picture - looks more greyish than purple.

 

The background was created with a mask. I die cut a circle on some printer paper and used both parts as masks. I masked the sky first, so I could create moon. Then I masked the moon so I could use distress inks to create the night sky. I added the 'stars' with a glitter pen. The card shape was cut from Spellbinders postage stamp dies. The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn.

 

 

I am entering my card in the following challenges:
Love to Create Challenge Blog: Trick or Treat or Something Sweet  
Papertake Weekly:  FRIGHT NIGHT ,,,,,,,, BOO
and
Allsorts Challenge Blog: Too Cute to Spook!

Thanks for stopping by!

Koala PJs

Recently, my daughter ordered a pair of pajamas from a company in Korea (through Ebay). We were very surprised when I checked the mail yesterday and it had arrived! I ordered a pair of jeans from Long Tall Sally and it took over a month (and after I sent a friendly 'where are my jeans' reminder email) to get them - and they were shipped from a location 2 hours away! Anyways, she is very excited and couldn't wait to try it on. She let me take a couple pictures of her and said I could post them.

:)

New Christmas Stamp and Card

I recently received my prize from Penny Black and I am so excited to use my new stamps! The first one I'm using is Carolling Mice. I just love the adorable mice from PB!

I coloured it with my Copics and die cut 'noel' from Bazzill gold card stock with my MFT die-namics By The Letters.

Moxie Fab World is celebrating World Card Making Week with chances to win some awesome magazines. There are several chances to win, so stop by Moxie Fab World to enter.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!

Fall Fun Cas-ual Fridays

I'm entering my Happy Thanksgiving card in the CAS-ual Fridays Fall Fun challenge this week.

 The sentiment is from Hero Arts Celebrate Everyday, and the colours used are from the Hero Arts Colour Challenge for September. The tree and leaf is Paper Smooches - Summer Groves. I changed the summer tree into a fall tree with patterned paper from Bo Bunny (Garden Girl). I cut out the different sections of the tree in various colours/patterns and added dimensional foam to the back (differing heights of foam from middle to bottom.)

 

Not sure if I like the extra leaf at the bottom - maybe a bit too big - but I thought it looked too plain without it.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

Happy Birthday...

My youngest is turning 14 on Tuesday! It's hard to believe that she already in grade 10. Where does the time go? I'm not sure what we're getting her for her birthday, but I did manage to make a card for her.
When I sat down to make one, I wasn't sure what it was going to look like. Then I received an email (on my ipod) from iSpy Sketches, and thought the sketch might be a good way to get started. I made a shaker card with the adorable (and favourite of mine) PB 'mimi the mermaid' stamp.

 

 

I took the picture at an angle due to the reflection in the plastic cardstock window. I used some small beads, but a few of them are still a little big (and got stuck at the end of her hair.)

 

I am entering my card in the iSpy Sketches Challenge 33, and Totally Paper Crafts Challenge#134 Use Your Favourite Stamp.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

New Stamps



When my daughter came back from visiting her boyfriend (in May), she brought me home an adorable stamp set by Sandylion. Other than playing around with the stamps, I had never made a card with them. So, for my brother's birthday, I chose the robot from the stamp set. He works in electronics and robotics, so I thought this was a cute choice for him. :) I stamped and coloured the robot and cut him out. I popped him up with some dimensional foam and stood him on the 'h' for 'happy'. The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn. I didn't like the 'happy' coloured solid, so I decided to colour it halfway up.  My daughter liked the robot, but thought my card was too plain. :)

 

I am entering this in Papertake Weekly's Anything Goes challenge, and Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Put a Stamp On It Challenge (Don't forget to check out their STAMPtember event and blog hop going on this month!).

 

 

 

 

I am also entering this in Moxie Fab World's Card Design Handbook Week: The Movement Challenge. The movement is supposed to start at the main image, and then your eye is drawn to his foot on the 'h', and then across the word 'happy', and finally to the word 'birthday'. I think I really need a copy of the Card Design Handbook!

 

 

My second card is one I've already posted on my flickr account, but hadn't yet put on my blog. I just love this Hero Arts Newspaper Tulips stamp! I coloured it with my memento markers and stamped it so some of the stem bottom are off the paper. The sentiment is from PaperSmooches. 

 

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!

Another Christmas Card

It has been a busy August. There hasn't been a whole lot of time to make cards, and even less time to post them. I did manage to put three of my cards up on my Flickr account so I could enter the monthly Hero Arts contest - but I haven't had time to post them here. I will be happy once September is here...

I used one of the same stamps that I used in my last Christmas card post. It is Penny Black and so adorable!

I was kind of struggling for inspiration, so I decided to just stamp an image and colour it. On the Penny Black blog the other day, they featured one of their talented designers, Elizabeth Allan, and when asked what she does in a 'stamping slump', one of her answers was to stamp and colour an image 'without trying to create anything specific'. So I tried that, and it worked! After I was done colouring, I just looked at it for a bit. I trimmed it up, matted it on red and found a small card/gift card holder (that I made for something else, but decided not to use it). I added the polka dot washi tape and my card came together. Make sure to check out her fantastic blog, here. Her amazing work is so inspiring!

I coloured with my Copics. I stamped the holly from her hat and added it to the inside for a little colour.  I just love the black with white polka dots washi tape. The only problem I had was with it constantly ripping as I pulled off a long enough length for the card. Even though I pulled it slowly, I had a lot of trouble. I've never really used it before, so I'm not sure if this is normal for washi tape or if I just got a defective roll. :)

I am entering my card in the following three challenges:
4 Crafty Chicks - Circle and more cirlces ( I do have lots of little white circles.)
Simon Says Stamp and Show - No rules, anything goes!
City Crafter Challenge Blog - Wisha Washi 2

Have a great day!

Christmas in July!

I have finally started to work on some Christmas cards. Last year I left it too late, in my opinion, and felt very rushed. So this year I have decided that I would come up with several designs and gradually make them over the summer and fall.
I am using my Penny Black stamps for these 2 cards - both image and sentiment. I just love the adorable Mimi images.
The images were stamped and coloured with Copics and then cut out. I stamped the image on the card base and adhered the coloured image.

Card #1:

Card #2:

I am entering my cards in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Anything Goes

PaperPlay Challenges - Christmas in July

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

CAS-ual Friday #62

CAS-ual Friday's current challenge (that ends Thurs at noon) is:

I'm really liking my new Hero Arts stamp set, Blossom Art. I paper pieced the flower and leaves and popped them up with a little dimensional foam. I stamped the Thank You in Frost White ink (ColorBox). I thought of embossing it, but when I tried, I didn't like the results. I wish I had a finer white embossing powder - mine made the sentiment look splotchy when I tested it.

I am also entering my card in Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Anything Goes.

Have a good day!

Day 7 Flowers

The last card I have is from Day 7 - Flowers. I didn't have the stamp set they used in the class, so I used my HA Blossom Art set and paper pieced and layered the flower.

I added a little blue background using HA Envelope pattern. I made a mask with copy paper and a spellbinder's reverse wonky rectangle. I stamped the image inside the cut-out area of the copy paper. The image came out a little lighter than I planned, but if you look close, you can see it.

I used dimensional adhesive to pop up the petals and the leaves. I added a little glitter to the flower with a glitter pen and blue stickles on the flower center. The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn. I wasn't quite satisfied with it until I rounded the bottom right corner.  The paper is MME's 6x6 Away We Go for the flower, and Echo Park Dots and Strips for the leaves.

Hopefully I will have some time later to make a couple more cards. So far, I have loved watching the videos and trying some of the new ideas from the class.

Day 2 - Happy Birthday card

I needed to make a card for my niece's birthday, and I really loved the card that Amber made on Day 2. I don't have any collage stamps, but I did have some pretty butterfly stamps from HA. I liked the black card base (I liked everything about the card) so I tried to reproduce it for my niece.

The clear cardstock is tricky to photograph - anything with flash made it shine in a bad way. :)

I photographed the card in the basement, so the lighting is poor, leaving me with grainy pictures. But there wasn't enough time to take better pictures before the party. I had made a card for my brother-in-law as well, but forgot to take a picture of that one.

Day 1 (and 3)- Stretch Your Stamps... Baby Tags

My niece is going to have her third baby soon - real soon, she's overdue by 9 days already! I decided to make some announcement cards (tags) for her. All she would need to do is fill in the information and take a picture of the baby (Owen) to put inside the cards. Then she can hand them out to family, etc.

I used my Spellbinder's Scalloped circle die to create the outside. After making most of the shaped cards the hard way, I figured out a much easier way to finish the last few. First, cut 2 pieces of cardstock to 4.5"x4.5". Score the back piece (can't remember how far down I scored, but just under 3/4 inch...I think) and put a strip of 1/2" scor tape above the score line. Adhere the top piece of cardstock and flip it over. On the backside (where you can see the score line) line up the scalloped circle die and tape it down (I use washi tape to hold it in place). Run it through the Cuttlebug and you have a perfectly lined up shaped card. It also presses the paper together so the tape adheres nicely. If only I had figured this out earlier! It took me so much time to line up the scallops.

Day 1 - Background stamps. The middle one is the one I used a background stamp on(from Penny Black). I used HA's soft pool on the stamp, stamped it first on scrap paper and then on the white tag front. The digital stamp is from Hero Arts.

The envelopes are inspired from Day 3 (alphabet stamps) of Stretch Your Stamps. I used Lawn Fawn stamps for the letters and the black dash lines. The heart is from Paper Smooches.

I haven't given them to her yet, but I'll probably get my oldest to give them to her tomorrow when she goes over to visit. Hopefully she'll have the baby tomorrow. :)