Non crafty post

I have no cards to share today, yet, but I do have some photographs to share that I've taken the past couple of days while trying out my new Nikon camera. This is my first SLR camera and I must say it's going to take a while to get used to it and LOTS of practice :)

When I finally got the battery charged up on Saturday it was pitch black outside, so I had to settle for a subject indoors...my cute kitty. Usually she's always on the move, but I was able to catch her sleeping.

This is a photo I tried out using manual focus:

 I guess I ended up disturbing her with my lens almost in her face lol so here is what I snapped next:

 The following day I ended up over at my mother-in-law's and my precious new nephew was there and I couldn't resist a picture of his sweet adorable face:

 And finally today I took my camera outside and tried the technique of isolating an object (I quickly discovered that auto focus will not work with this).

 Thanks for stopping by and if you check back later I'll have my Play Date Cafe challenge posted!

PDCC56 - Player Appreciation Week

Phew! I didn't think I'd get a chance to play today with the Play Date Cafe challenge, but I managed to set aside thirty minutes and was able to whip up two CAS cards today. This week's inspirational photo is absolutely GORGEOUS! 1) It makes me want a framed print of this on my wall in my art room and 2) It reminds me I only have to wait 3 more days until I get my new camera (no more unclear or dark blog post pics whoo-hoo!) Anyways, take a gander at this photo:

 And not only is the photo fab, but there's THREE sponsors for this week's challenge; E.A.D. Designs, Discount Cardstock and Wilson Designs! So for this challenge I went with CAS and came up with these wintry little mittens.

Unfortunately my soon to be old camera does not seem to like the reflection of glitter and despises the colour turquoise. I assure you those mittens look more turquoise than what the photograph shows. Hopefully my new Nikon will agree to a wider array of colour choices :) For this card I embossed the base with a dot background from Stampin' Up! and then popped another white piece up off the front. The mittens are die cut with a sizzix die and covered with tacky tape so the pretty blue turquoise glitter would stick. Mini buttons in the colour of old olive were adhered to the cuffs and the cuffs were outlined with frosted lace stickles. I used red embroidery thread to attach the mittens together and then looped them over a piece white baby yarn for the clothesline (this is where I started kicking myself for not ordering that red/white bakers twine I saw online). The sentiment is stamped in real red ink. It's a little hard to see in the photo, but the edge of the inner panel is outlined in old olive and the outer edge of the card base is outlined in real red.

Winter Mittens Card

Cardstock: (Whisper White, Real Red) Stampin' Up!
Stamp: Hero Arts
Ink: (Old Olive, Real Red) Stampin' Up!
Buttons: (Old Olive) Stampin' Up!
Embossing Folder: (Dots) Stampin' Up!
Die: (Mittens) Sizzix
Glitter: (Turquoise) Stampin' Up! (Frosted Lace) Stickles
Other: embroidery floss, baby yarn, foam squares, corner rounder

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Pals Paper Arts - CAS with ribbon or fabric

This week's challenge over at Pals Paper Arts is all about a CAS card that showcases ribbon! I've been on a butterfly kick and decided to make another butterfly card using the ink colour that seems to be popping up in a lot of my cards lately...Baja Breeze :)

Here is what I came up with:

This card was soooo simple to make, and it would have been under the 10 minute mark if it hadn't been for the cutting. I stamped one of the butterfly images from the set "Butterfly Prints" from Stampin' Up! in Baja Breeze about as centered as I could get (without actually measuring) on a Whisper White cardstock base. I then opened the card up and cut around the edge of the image with an xacto knife (don't cut completely around or you'll lose your butterfly). The cut wings are pulled forward a bit to give it depth and I used 3 different size pearl stickers for the body. I used the "Tiny Teacup" stamp for the sentiment underneath the image. The finishing touch was thick, double stitched grosgrain ribbon in the matching colour tied in a knot and adhered with a glue dot.

Baja Butterfly Card (all supplies Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted)

Cardstock: Whisper White
Stamps: Tiny Teacup, Butterfly Prints
Ink: Baja Breeze, Basic Black
Ribbon: Baja Breeze double stitched grosgrain
Stickers: Basic Pearls
Tools: xacto knife, corner rounder, glue dot

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Cocoa Combo

This Friday I'm teaching another Winter n' Christmas workshop with the ladies at our church. We're making 4 projects in total and this combo is the winter part of the workshop...a yummy treat duo!

The cocoa favor was made using the fancy favor die from Stampin' Up! and was decorated with snowflake stamps and a peek-a-boo window using a snowflake punch. The inside contains a gusset bag filled with hot cocoa mix and marshmallows. The matching mini card was stamped using the "A Sip" stamp set from Close to my Heart in Stampin' Up! ink colours to match the cardstock colours used.

Cocoa Combo

Cardstock: (Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Not Quite Navy) Stampin' Up!
Stamps: (A Sip) Close to my Heart, (Christmas Punch) Stampin' Up!
Ink: (Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Not Quite Navy) Stampin' Up!
Ribbon: (Chocolate Chip grosgrain) Stampin' Up!
Punches: (Snowflake) EK Success, (Large Oval, Scalloped Oval) Stampin' Up!
Stickers: (Basic Rhinestones) Stampin' Up!
Other: (Snowflake embossing folder) Cuttlebug, gusset bag, hot cocoa mix & marshmallows, pop dots

Thanks for stopping by...39 days 'till Christmas!

PDCC55 with Sarah Anderson

The challenge at the Play Date Cafe is a very interesting colour scheme this week and I encourage everyone to give it a whirl. I was first intrigued, then excited, and then when I went to actually make something, I became a bit baffled. Here is what the inspirational photo looks like:

I could work the pale blue, pink and burgundy together, but the bright blue and red was throwing me off. I attacked this challenge from so many different angles and by 3 hours into it,  I was really wishing  I owned an outline stamp to colour in using this combo lol. So I went back to my tried and true paint recipe and picked two colours for my quart and gallon and used the rest of the colours as my pints :) Here is what I came up with:

I stamped the houndstooth butterfly on whisper white using the colours real red, bravo burgundy, pretty in pink and brilliant blue. Each butterfly has a head brad in the colour brilliant blue and the rest of the body consists of 2 clear rhinestones. I punched the butterflies out using the coordinating punch from Stampin' Up!. The card base is baja breeze and I penned 4 squares with dots on the card front with a basic black maker. The antennae were stamped in the center of each square using basic black and the butterflies were attached over top using foam squares. The alphabet strip is a rub-on and I just circled the letters h & i for the sentiment. To finish it off, the card was sponged with black ink along the edges and tied with a big polka dot red bow :)


Houndstooth Butterfly Card (all supplies from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted)

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Whisper White
Stamps: Butterfly Prints
Ink: Brilliant Blue, Bravo Burgundy, Pretty in Pink, Real Red & Basic Black
Rub-On: Alphabet from Take Note
Ribbon: Real Red Polka Dot Grosgrain
Brads: Brilliant Blue
Stickers: Basic Rhinestones
Other: Foam Dots, Glue Dots, Basic Black Pen

Thanks for stopping by and happy stamping!

It's all about the weather!

In my blog browsing, I stumbled across this blog called Stampin' Sisters in Christ and what a great way to learn some scripture. I'll admit, I'm horrible at memorizing scripture, but perhaps now that I can equate it something I love (cardmaking) perhaps I'll remember more :) Challenge #64 this week is based on the scripture verse Isaiah 55:10-11, which reads: "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty without accomplishing what I desire and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it."

The challenge is to make a card that depicts any type of weather. Here is what I came up with:

 I guess I have a whole lot of weather going on in this card lol all's I need is a little snow and maybe a tornado to finish it off :) I stepped away from stamping and rub-ons and pretty much everything else I usually use and decided to go with a hand drawn card. Everything was going smoothly until I got to those raindrops and had to cut them out...yikes! I cut out all my shapes first, coloured or shaded where appropriate and then outlined all my images with a fine tip black felt pen. The borders and font are my own as well. The center of the sun is corduroy brad from Stampin' Up! and the rhinestones are stickers from Me & My Big Ideas.

Weather Card

Cardstock: (Crumb Cake, Whisper White) Stampin' Up!

Patterned Paper: Unknown source

Ribbon: Unknown source

Brad: Stampin' Up!

Rhinestone Stickers: Me & My Big Ideas

Other: Prismacolor pencils, black felt tip pen, pop dots

Thanks for stopping by!   

PDCC54 with Julie Ranae

A Tuesday would just not be complete without playing the latest challenge over at the Play Date Cafe. The inspirational photo is beautiful and you MUST go check out the fabulous entries over there, gorgeous stuff! Here is what the photo looks like:

I was trying to match the colours to my current Stampin' Up! cardstock stash and couldn't decide if it was closer to Pear Pizzazz/Peach Parfait or Groovy Guava/Certainly Celery. The Groovy Guave combo won because I had more "stuff" in those colours. This week I wanted to make something other than a card, plus I've been thinking about Christmas gifts AND I've been trying to use up items that have been kicking around my art room forever lol. I was thinking about my daughter's school photos (which I hope are going to be back before Christmas), which made me think about all those wallet size photos I always have left over. That's when the light bulb flicked on :)
So, with 4x4 chipboard coasters as my working surface, my colour combo and one of many wallet size photos of my daughter, I came up with this:

A fridge magnet! I decided this would be a great little Christmas gift for the grandparents,with a current photo of course. This was her grade 5 photo and now I'm wondering where did the last three years go??!! For this project I first cut white cardstock to match the size of the coaster. For the background I stamped up a script image first with versamark and then with certainly celery. After I stamped it, I embossed the lettering with clear embossing powder. Next a sponged groovy guava over the left side towards the center and along the edges, I used a damp cloth to remove any ink off the embossed sections. I stamped another image over top along the left hand side, which is partially covered by the green ribbon. I used the same method on the flower as the background, versamark, groovy guava ink and then embossed with the clear embossing powder. The rhinestones and pearls are stickers. The tricky part was the ribbon edging. For this I stuck a strip of tacky tape along all four edges on the backside. Then I used white organza ribbon and made ruffles along the edge trying to keep it as even as possible. To make it really stick, I took another coaster and tacky taped it over top of the ribbon so it was sandwiched in between. The back coaster is covered with a patterned paper in groovy guava. The final step is to just adhere two strips of magnetic tape to the back.
Here's a closeup of the flower and flourishes:

Wallet Photo Fridge Magnet (All supplies Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted)

Cardstock: Whisper White
Patterned Paper: Ginger Blossoms
Stamps: French Script, Vintage Vogue
Stickers: (Rhinestones) Me & My Big Ideas, (Basic Pearls) Stampin' Up!
Ink: Certainly Celery, Basic Black & Groovy Guava
Ribbon: Certainly Celery Grosgrain, White Organza
Chipboard Coasters: Unknown source
Other: Tacky Tape, Pop dots

PDCC53 with Sarah Anderson

Another post for today for the awesome Play Date Cafe challenge. This week it was another colour splash using black and white with a splash of burgundy. I liked this colour combo so much I made two cards. Here is what the inspirational photo looks like:

Ever buy a piece of paper that you just can't cut up because it's too pretty? That was the case with this particular piece of paper I used for my card. I had bought this 1 sheet of paper eight years ago at a scrapbooking store that has long since shut down and I really, really liked it, but couldn't bring myself to cut it up. However, when this splash of burgundy challenge came up, I automatically thought of this beautiful piece of paper. Here is my card with that "special" piece of paper :)

I used the sketch by Kim Kesti for this card from the Go-to-Sketches magazine, which you can find on pg.83. The burgundy paper is either velvet or suede or something, all I know is that it feels really nice lol. The ribbon is black satin from Stampin' Up! as well as the rub-on. I made the stick pins using corsage pins, Swarovski crystals and some other black beads.

The top crystals right after the pearl are actually garnet in colour, but they're so dark that they look black in the picture. If you hold them in the right light they reflect a colour pretty near the same as the paper.

For my second card I went back to stamping. I decided it was time I made my first sympathy card, well I guess it could be a "letting you know I care" card too. For the past couple of years I've collected oodles of sympathy stamps and have never used them. I also had a strong urge to use trees today, so that's what I stamped :)

For the background on this card I embossed a damask pattern on whisper white cardstock and then used the top note die to cut it.  I was going to ink the embossing folder first (for a letterpress look), but it didn't look right so I brayed black ink over the raised image instead. For my focal image, I stamped the tree from the "Branch Out" stamp set from Stampin' Up! and used bravo burgundy for the leaves. I finished off this card with black satin ribbon as well.

Love You Card

Cardstock: (Basic Black, Whisper White) Stampin' Up!
Patterned Paper: Unknown source
Rub-on: Stampin' Up!
Ribbon: (Basic Black Satin) Stampin' Up!
Corsage Pins: Modern Romance
Other: Swarovski crystals, black beads


Praying for You Card

Cardstock: (Basic Black, Whisper White) Stampin' Up!
Stamps: (Branch Out, Thoughts & Prayers) Stampin' Up!
Ink: (Basic Black, Bravo Burgundy) Stampin' Up!
Ribbon: (Basic Black Satin) Stampin' Up!
Die: (Top Note) Stampin' Up!
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug

Thanks for stopping by and happy card making!

WCMD 2010

Well now that I know I didn't get an e-mail for the WCMD contest, I can share my card with you :) This was my first card using all of my Tim Holtz goodies among other things and my second attempt at vintage style. It was a trial and error and a whole lot messy, but I had fun in the process of making it. I also learned that there is indeed a right side up to my music notes stampin' wheel (I think I pulled that section off and on 3 times before I had it going the right way lol) Anyways here is what I entered for the "Love" category.

Amour Card

Cardstock: (Early Espresso, Very Vanilla) Stampin' Up!
Patterned Paper: Idea-o-logy by Tim Holtz
Other Paper: Grungeboard by Tim Holtz
Ink: (Walnut Stain, Worn Lipstick & Fired Brick) Tim Holtz
Stamps: (French Script, Music Notes, Artistic Etchings) Stampin' Up!
Glimmer Mist: (Tattered Leather) Tattered Angels
Distress Stickles: (Fired Brick) Tim Holtz
Ribbon: (Crochet) Stampin' Up!
Punch: (Scallop Border) Stampin' Up!
Die: (Heart Wings) Tim Holtz Alterations
Memo Pin: Tim Holtz
Brads: Tim Holtz

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Tuesday Trigger -Sweater Weather

Oops! I realize the deadline has past for the Tuesday Trigger over at the Moxie Fab World, but I'm going to post this anyways. This was the lovely inspiration photo for last week's Tuesday Trigger:

I really liked the colour combo and the pattern on this sweater and immediately thought of the flowers my good friend Lisa crocheted for me that would look perfect with this colour combo. Here is what I came up with:

I first inked up an embossing folder with Crumb Cake ink and ran it through my Big Shot with the image indenting inwards. ( I never clued into this technique until I went to a stamp club last Friday). I pleated the Chocolate Chip paper and then tied some So Saffron ribbon over the bottom half of it. The button was sewed onto this gorgeous little flower and attached using a glue dot. The final touch was some strategically placed pearls on sections of the embossed part.

Sweater Weather Card (all supplies Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted)

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip
Ribbon: So Saffron:
Ink: Crumb Cake
Flower: Handmade by Lisa
Button: So Saffron
Other: Embossing Folder (Sizzix), thread, glue dots

Thanks for stopping by and happy card making!