Updates From ParisEstates

Baby Carriage - Cricut

2011-05-19T20:59:00.000-05:00

A colleague had a little baby boy and came back to the office to visit and brought her new little bundle.
I wanted to try out the baby carriage template from My Time Made Easy.

Here is the result - I kept it in the colours of a photo that we had of the new little boy - cream, brown and blue.

Materials: CS, PP (Michaels), Template (My Time Made Easy), ribbon, brads, foam tape, adhesive tape, decorative edge punch (Martha Stewart), 1/8" hole punch (Fiskars).

Until next time, have a great day!

My first She Art for me, and Happiness & Inspiration Project update

2011-05-15T11:58:00.000-05:00

Happiness & Inspiration project update for May.

I had DD and myself signed up for a cupcake decorating class called "Mommy and me" at a local cooking store in Erin called What's Cookin the weekend of Mother's Day. We also picked up some supplies to make them at home: a cupcake corer (so you can stuff your muffin or cupcake with treats), a squeazable decorating icing container and a decorating pen. We are definitely going to try that at home - YUM!

I have also signed up for the FREE ecourse called Photoshop Skinny-mini, and it starts May 16th (tomorrow!!!). From the title, it might make you think that the class was for learning how to alter your photos to make yourself skinny!!!! :) But it is actually a great class to learn all the basics and essentials of Photoshop (my latest passion).

She Art - Love
Here is my She Art project that I made for myself. I tried to copy my hair style and colour (not sure that I captured it, but it was a good first try). Most importantly I had a lot of fun!

Until next time, have a great day!

DS - multi-media art (let's call it "he" art)

2011-05-13T13:07:00.000-05:00

Last post was my DD's multi-media and She Art work - so this post is the art from DS!
So let's call it He Art, not She Art!

DS - he is 4, here are his creations.
#1 - 8x10 canvas "Owl"

#2 - 10x14 canvas "cars" and "transformers"

#3 - 8x10 canvas - painting (apparently in his dark period!)

Lots of fun, lots of mess, but some great time together creating!
Here are some actions photos, of him working hard on his canvases.

Until next time, have a great day!

DD's multi-media creations and She Art

2011-05-09T21:12:00.000-05:00

As promised, here are the multi-media canvases the kids have made themselves - while I have been trying the She Art Workshop ecourse.
This post is of DD's art. Next post will be DS's.

DD - she is 6, here are her creations.

#1 - 8x10 canvas "Birdie". Love the dimension on the sun!

#2 - 11x14 canvas "Owls"

#3 - 11x14 canvas - her first real "She Art" creation of herself

Lots of fun, lots of mess, but some great time together creating!
Here are some actions photos, of DD working hard on her canvases.

Until next time, have a great day!

Happy Mother's Day - and She Art!

2011-05-08T15:25:00.000-05:00

To all the ladies out there - Happy Mother's Day!
We are having wonderful weather in Ontario today, for this special Sunday! Hope everyone is getting out and enjoying the sunshine!

I finished going through the 3 week ecourse from Christy Tomlinson that I talked about in this post HERE. Lots of fun. The kids have made 3 of their own multi-media pieces along with me, so that it was a real family affair.

We made 1 for my mum for Mother's Day and gave it to her today. We used all of her bright, favourite colours - and then got her tshirts to match those! Here is our creation - we used a photo of her to try to copy the hair style and colour. Check it out - not bad for our first try!

Materials: 8x10 canvas (Michaels), Mod Podge, foam brosh, 1" paint brush, tissue paper - all colours, old book (ripped page out of), patterned paper (assorted), 'She' pattern (Christy's workshop), bubble wrap, acrylic paints, Rub-ons, wheel stamp (SU!), distress ink (Tim Holtz), Staz-on ink - black, permanent black pen, Smooch ink, 'She' phrase (Christy's workshop).

I'll be back with some of the other creations from the kids, and the She Art that I made for myself too!
Until next time, have a great day!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T20:48:00.000-05:00

Happy Easter to everone!
Hope you are enjoying the long weekend! DH and the kids get a 4 day weekend, but I have to go back to work tomorrow! :(

Anyway - we had a busy weekend. We painted the house (yep, almost every room in it - 2 of the large, plastic pails of paint later......) and then at night, I tool the fantastic SHE ART WORKSHOP on-line while I relaxed. Yet another one of my ``finding inspiration and happiness`` things - added to the month of April! YEAH!

If you haven't heard of this workshop, check out the link to Christy Tomlinson's blog post HERE that talks about this workshop. It is a mixed media workshop, where you learn to create art on canvases using things we all probably have around the house for the most part, while you learn some great new techniques. The workshop gets you to explore your creative side, and let it all out! Then you make a lady to finish it off!
I signed up for the workshop in the second week of the 3 week course - but that`s OK, you work at your own pace and have 3 months to access all of the great videos, downloads, and information!

So at night after painting and when everyone is asleep, I have been working through all of the videos for all of the weeks - making notes and planning my first She Art canvas. I will post my art when it`s made - I really excited about getting messy and making my first one - and more! I picked up 4 canvases so that I can get everyone in the family working on one with me - it will be messy but I think everyone will have fun! All my supplies are sitting in the kitchen waiting for me to start - can`t wait!

This Friday evening is the BBQ class with hubbie in Erin. Date night! I have no clue what it will be all about, but we will have fun anyway - doesn`t matter!

Until next time, have a great day!

Playing......with food and my Cricut

2011-04-11T20:30:00.000-05:00

So, I'm back with another long-winded update on my Happiness/Inspiration post that you can see HERE.
It's been a while, so you may need to re-read the long post above and perhaps THIS other long update too.
Here's what's been happening...

MARCH - March Break with the kids was a lot of fun. We went to London, Ontario and hung out in the pool at the hotel, did a bit of shopping, made some "stuffies" at Build-A-Bear, ate out at our favourite places, and went bowling, arcading, adventure land exploring and to the movies.
The Monday of March Break before we left for London - we had a "Crafternoon" with friends at the house and made some more of the wooden block collages. DD made one of herself, and also DS made one too (with a bit of help from Mum!). I have them proudly on display at my desk at work!

I also bought myself a Cricut machine - finally! A red one!

And to go along with the machine, I bought the Sure-Cuts-A-Lot 2 software from the Craft Edge site - so that I can cut out svg files from my computer instead of purchasing Cricut cartridges. That is the reason I finally broke down and bought the machine, because I would never pay the money to buy tons of cartridges.
I bought some svg files from My Time Made Easy and have been experimenting ever since. Here is my first project - the CAGED template, at full size.

Then I made the same template at 50% of the size, so that it was the size needed to fit a battery-operated tea light.

Here they are together so that you can see the size difference.

Next up for my Cricut will be the Baby Carriage template, and the Cake Slice template I think! And that was it for March and my Happiness projects for that month! Not sure where the time goes!

APRIL - I went to the "Playing with Food" class this past weekend at a local gourmet food store. We got a handy tool called a Veg-Art tool, with which we learned how to make vegetable flowers like tulips from coloured peppers. Here is the tool and another one that can turn your veggies into tealight holders!

Here are the coloured pepper tulips:

And kiwi decorations:

And leek lotus flowers:

As well as some flowers made from an apple and carrots! Looks cute in the Wheat Grass.

Definitely an interesting hour spent on Saturday!

Also in APRIL I have the following still to do -

I start my Photoshop 2 classes here in town. Photoshop 1 was fun and I learned a lot! I have also bought the Adobe instructional "Classroom in a book" for Photoshop and another Instructional video series too, so that I can continue to learn everything this program can do! I am really enjoying it!
This Friday, a group of us go to the CreativFestival for more crafting inspiration and laughs (yes PITA, I can't wait for you to make me laugh as only you an do!).
BBQ class with hubbie comes last in April. Our Date Night consists of a 2 hour BBQ tune up and hopefully some yummy eats!

So lots on the go - and lots to share.
I will post my next Cricut template projects as soon as they are done.
Until next time, have a great day!
Pam

QR Code addition

2011-04-02T13:55:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!
If you take a look at the right sidebar on my blog you will see that I have added a QR code there - which has a link to this blog embedded in it.

What's a QR code you ask?
A QR code (short for Quick Response code) is a 2D barcode that is readable by Smartphones, which has information embedded in it like text or other information - even contact info, but it can also direct the phone to open a specific URL (website) using your browser, send a text, make a phone call, etc. Marketers are using these more and more to provide information and offers to their customers - they are like paper-based hyperlinks.

To read a QR code, your Smartphone needs to have an app (like ScanLife or other) that uses the phone's camera to read the code or Blackberry messenger V5.0 which has a built in reader in it.

So, now if you want to pass my blog information on to a friend without having to type out the URL - just "right click" and save the QR picture and then forward it to a friend. Or you can scan it yourself to access my blog while you are on-the-go! Fun!

Until next time, have a great day!

Glass charm tutorial from Lorrie Everitt

2011-03-08T22:36:00.000-05:00

Hi all! Quick post today!

Wanted to post a link to a wonderful tutorial from the instructor - Lorrie Everitt - who taught me how to make my glass charms shown in THIS POST. Yep - my Happiness post!

It is the 1 year anniversary of her own blog - and she has posted a tutorial on how to make these for everyone to play along! CLICK HERE to see her fantastic tutorial.
Enjoy!

Until next time, have a great day!

Inspirations, Happiness and fun continued

2011-02-23T21:29:00.000-05:00

I'm back with the latest updates on my happiness and inspiration project.
As a reminder, HERE is my last post (or you can just scroll down to see it, too) where I listed all of the things I had planned over the next few months to put a little bit of happiness and inspiration into life.

For FEBRUARY - I had the Mixed Media class booked for this past Thursday - and here is my finished project!

The class was fun and quite easy. There was only 1 other lady in the class so we got lots of individual attention and instruction - which made the project go really smoothly! I love the saying from Winnie the Pooh, so I got a second print off of it to do the same collage for Little Man (DS).

If you live to be a hundred,
I want to live to be
a hundred minus a day
so I never have to
live a day without you. Winnie the Pooh

And I also booked an additional class in FEBRUARY, it's the one I was planning on doing in MARCH - Lampwork Beads. I convinced my Mum to take the class with me too - she did so well! Here are some shots of her making a glass bead, under the guidance of our instructor Bev.

And here are our combined finished glass beads. They are not perfect - just like us! But they were a great start, and it was a lot of fun and we learned something new and out of the ordinary!

An additional class came up for FEBRUARY as well - Photoshop 1. It is offered through our local adult education centre called The Learning Centre. I signed up to take a total of 5 computer courses over the next 2 years, and I selected Photoshop 1 (running from Feb - April) and Photoshop 2 (April - May) to start off with. First class was last night and it was GREAT! I really enjoyed it and was glad I signed up. The instructor is very informative and patient with everyone.

Next update - our Family Day Long Weekend! We had a blast on the snowmobiles and communed with nature - while taking some great photos, too! Can't wait to share!
Until next time, have a great day!

In search of INSPIRATION...... and happiness, every day

2011-02-13T10:40:00.001-05:00

WARNING - very long post!!!
It has been ages since I last posted anything on my little blog here! I have no clue where the time has gone - or what I've done with it!!! But I do know that I have been in search....

Over the Christmas holidays I took a good close look at my family, and how we were all doing and feeling and wanting to do/be/try/discontinue (yes it's OK to say that too!). I noticed that all of us had become fully immersed in the weekly grind - Yuck! It's Monday........Yeah! It's Friday! Groundhog Day - everyday! And that is just not right! The kids are only 4 and 6 - and even they were thinking this! We needed some good New Year's resolutions for happiness and INSPIRATION.

Don't get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong, really. We are very fortunate is so many ways - good jobs, good health, family, friends, interests, etc. - but we were all still not quite "Happy" or I really mean "Happy as we could, and should, be". So I went off in search of INSPIRATION.

I started with myself. Because as the saying goes "If Mamma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!"
I know for sure I like to do crafty things - any kind of craft really. And yet I hadn't done any in a long time. Why? I just wasn't INSPIRED. I NEEDED INSPIRATION - and yes, happiness. So I tackled it just like a regular project: assessed the issue, figured out what INSPIRED me and made me happy, brainstormed ideas on what to do - and tackled it head on. So, with my list of thoughts and interests, I went on-line and did some hunting on anything and everything that I could take classes on that looked interesting, didn't need a lot of supplies I didn't have and didn't require any particular pre-requisite skill or huge time commitment. It needed to be attainable, actionable and DIFFERENT! I needed INSPIRATION and I needed some new experiences to do that. Here's what I came up with as a monthly, short-term plan:

JANUARY - a class called "Special Gift Giving" at a scrapbook store close to work called Scrapbook Queens. I signed up for this mainly because of the glass pendants, as I had a kit of this in my craft cupboard but had never made anything with it - so I needed instruction and INSPIRATION. I took the class and here are the results:

I learned some new techniques, made 2 necklaces: one for me and one for DD which we both wore the next day, I met a few new ladies, got a night away from my usual routine and found a bit of INSPIRATION. It might not necessarily be my "style" but it met my criteria! Off to a good start. CHECK, DONE!

And when discussing my INSPIRATION and happiness quest with a coworker one day over lunch, she mentioned that she knew of a book called The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (I gave you the link to the book, but I bought my audiobook at iTunes) which sounded very similar to what I was doing. A lady tried to find happiness in her life through different thing, thoughts and actions. So I came home and bought the audiobook. Yes, not the print book because I don't really take the time to sit and actively read things that require too much time - but I did have at least 2 hours each day of wasted time in my car (and I hate wasted time!) so the audiobook was the solution. I am loving the book, learning lots, finding things and thoughts that are similar to mine and also finding INSPIRATION. CHECK, DONE!

FEBRUARY - a class called "Introduction to Mixed Media/Collage", again at the Scrapbook Queens store. I have no clue what it's all about - but I have picked out a photo, selected a saying from the selection they had - and I am ready to go on Thursday. Something new to try and learn about - and hopefully get INSPIRATION from. I'll post my results once I take the class.
I also signed up for 4 classes on "Digital Painting" at a local art studio which I started on Saturday. Interesting so far - and INSPIRING. I learned about Photoshop techniques in this first class - and will start back once again after the Family Day long weekend here in Ontario. I'll post my results when I'm done.

MARCH - I am planning on taking a class on making lampwork glass beads from a local artisan who has a studio nearby. It involves an open flame and hot glass - how much trouble do you think I can get into??!!

APRIL - I have signed up for a class called "Playing with Food" at a local cooking store. This is where they make interesting table displays and tealights out of regular everyday food items. Looks interesting. I also signed DH and I up for a class this same month at the same cooking store on brushing up your BBQ techniques. Again - something different to try and experience and find INSPIRATION from. And yes DH is not immune from my happiness quest, so I rolled him into my plans (I'm easing him in, he's not exactly jumping in with both feet for himself although he is 100% supporting my quest!)

Other things I am looking into are glass blowing, photography, painting, Photoshop and other things like that. We'll see what I find.

Next I tackled DD. I knew she didn't like the gymnastics class I have had her signed up for - for what appears to be 4 years now. So, I phoned them and discontinued her registration for this. She was relieved. Yes, it's OK to say you don't like something - as long as you tried your best, and gave it a chance. Nothing lost if you tried something new.
So here is her plan:

JANUARY - Discontinued gymnastics - CHECK, DONE! Resumed art class that she loves - CHECK, DONE! She loves this, and here is one of her paintings. I think it is fantastic, she's only 6! Daddy has it in his office to show everyone - he's so proud.

I also signed her up for Hip Hop dance class. Fun, exercise and some confidence building too. She loves it, so another CHECK, DONE!

MARCH - start piano lessons. I used to teach piano - and tried to teach DD. Unfortunately, we started skipping lessons as things got busy, and I just didn't set aside the time to do it. So I have signed her up with a teacher to do weekly lessons starting after March Break.

Next I tackled the Family as a whole: we as a family like to snowmobile in the winter, and we also like to go different places on the weekends and stay in hotels to explore the area. The problem is that there are 4 of us and only 1 snowmobile. What to do?

JANUARY - We bought a second snowmobile! It's used, but in perfect condition and is a real source of fun for us. We've been out and about every weekend so far on the trails and exploring. Time spent with the kids, with the family all together, outdoors in the fresh air - FUN! Here is the new machine!

FEBRUARY - We have just booked a snowmobile weekend away for the 4 of us and the 2 machines in Haliburton for a winter wilderness adventure. Snowmobile trails, skating, bonfires with marshmallows, indoor pool, games room, etc. Something new and INSPIRING! Can't wait. And I have a digital photobook all set up on-line to insert our photos into and print out when we get back - a lasting memory of the new adventure for all of us to enjoy over and over again.
One other thing that is small, but a big source of unhappines for me is a spot that the whole family uses to pile dirty laundry after our work/school day. Instead of going to our rooms and putting the clothes there- they always seem to collect in 1 spot by a bathroom, but in a hallway, all week long! Drives me crazy! Then I saw a page full of decorative laundry hampers reviewed in Canadian House & Home magazine and I sent DH off to buy a particular one from our local store on Saturday - and Voila! Problem solved, and it looks nice too! Everytime I walk by it now I have a huge sense of happiness! Small thing, big results!

We are also going to eat healthier - all 4 of us. With the busy schedule we end up eating out on the run or ordering in because of lack of time. No more! I am working on this now - and will keep you posted on what I come up with.

MARCH - March Break is coming up and we always go to London, Ontario for a few days to our favourite hotel where they cater to the kids: face painting, balloon animals, clowns, movie nights with a popcorn machine, temporary tattoos, crafts, etc. So we'll book that again - for more family fun!

And I think I might have my Mum signed up to try some new things with me too. And my friend P.I.T.A. - I haven't forgotten about you - I have plans to include you too, so fair warning! Make sure you pencil in the Friday in April for the Creative Festival with me!

So - that's the plan and we are already into the second month of it - and I am pleased with the results. I was also pleased to get some new ideas and actionables from listening to The Hapiness Project. I think I might slip out today and buy the actual book too - for me to take closer looks at the various lists Gretchen refers to.

How about you? Make sure you find time for happiness and INSPIRATION because life is too short!
Until next time, have a great day!

For You! Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-10-11T13:38:00.000-05:00

Today’s post is a fun little purse that is used for giving gift cards or even cash. It’s the perfect size and can be made quickly.

All you need isthe Tres Chic Handbag pattern - on THIS site. It gives you a few different styles of couture bags to make – FUN! This was made as a personal thank you to someone who helped me out and did a fantastic job!

For you! handbag:

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper – DP; Ink –StazOn Black (Tsukineko); satin white ribbon, Purse template (Inking Idaho), tissue paper, key chain fob.

Happy Thanksgiving - Canada! Hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend and the wonderful weather. The family took a trip to the Pumpkinfest at a local farm - what a blast! I've attached some photos of the fun!

Enjoy!
Until next time, have a great day!

Words of Inspiration

2010-09-21T20:11:00.000-05:00

Happy Fall! As of tomorrow morning, it will officially be Fall - my favourite season of them all!

Today's post is a special project I did for a friend of mine who is hosting a special day for the ladies in her church group. They are doing a board book with words and saying and verses in it, that inspires each of them. Since they will be custom made for, and by, each person - no two will be the same.

Here is the sample I made for them, with the words and sayings that inspire me. I also chose the board book shape that best suited me too- a butterfly - and a few of the sayings are about butterflies! Such a simple project, yet will mean so much to that individual person.
Supplies used: Board book with metal ring, PP and CS (CTMH), sayings and clipart (computer generated), 1/4" hole punch, ribbon (CTMH, Offray), 2 adhesive gems (for eyes).

Words of Inspiration:
Cover

Pages 2-3

Pages 4-5

Pages 6-7

Pages 8-9

Back

Until next time, have a great day!

Halloween is coming!

2010-08-31T20:20:00.000-05:00

In just a few hours it will be September – back to school time, and fall coming. Fall is my favourite season of all – love the colours and the foods of this time of year the best of all.
Pumpkin bread, Pumpkin pie, turnip, squash, turkey, beautiful leaves, long walks in the crisp air…I could go on and on!! It also means the CreativFestival is coming to town in Toronto in October – another favourite! Lots to look forward to, that’s for sure.

Today’s card is definitely on topic – it’s Halloween! Another card using those wonderful Eat Cake Graphics images!

Pumpkin Trick or Treat:
Card dimensions – 6” square

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper – DP, watercolour paper Accademia (Fabrianno); Ink –StazOn Black (Tsukineko); Stamps – Peter Pumpkin 1080-E, Bob Bat 5034-D, Full Moon 7072-G (Eat Cake Graphics); foam tape, sheer black ribbon, thin purple satin ribbon (Offray), Tombow markers, water brush, 3 large black brads.

For September – I have lots of cards to show you using a brand new stamp line – Lacey Designs. Lots to look forward to!

Until next time, have a great day!

Fairy Rose

2010-08-26T16:10:00.001-05:00

I can't believe it!
It’s the end of August – I’m not 100% sure of where the time went. I did manage to spend some time with DH and the kids at Great Wolf Lodge. A fun break all around for us – it was worth it to see the smiles on the kids faces. Especially when I got a bucket of water dumped on my head when I wasn’t looking – they thought that was hilarious!!!

Anyway – I haven’t made as many cards this month’s as I would like to have – but there are a few Eat Cake Graphics ones up my sleeve still! Here’s one:

Fairy Rose dangler:
Card dimensions – A2 (4 ¼” x 5 ½”)

Materials: CS – (CTMH); Paper – PP (CTMH), watercolour Accademia (Fabrianno); Ink –StazOn Black (Tsukineko); Stamps – Fairy Rose sprinkles petals 1164-I (Eat Cake Graphics), Leave Room sentiment C596 (Frog Whisker’s Ink); foam tape, coloured wire, Hollyhock grosgrain ribbon (CTMH), Tombow markers, water brush, oval cutting template, Coluzzle, swivel cutting knife, Hollyhock marker (CTMH), small safety pin (CTMH), Stickles glitter glue – Icicle, shaped scissors – large scallop.

Here’s a close up of the little fairy – she is so sweet!

Hope everyone has had a wonderful summer – you can feel the fall wanting to slowly come in – especially that past 2 days in Ontario – definitely not the hot, humid we have been having!

Enjoy!
Until next time, have a great day!

It's a hot Christmas in August!

2010-08-03T20:52:00.000-05:00

It’s August, it’s hot and steamy – and…. I’m thinking about Christmas! Isn’t everyone now – seriously, there are only143 days until Christmas!! I know it is very hot outside, but I do love Christmas stamps – especially these two from Eat Cake Graphics, with little ones looking for Santa outside the window – just like my little ones do. And how clever are these two separate stamps that once you stamp them side by side – they show the Christmas tree inside! Love it!

Christmas with Mary and Billy at Window:
Card dimensions – 6” x 5”

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper – Accademia (Fabrianno); Ink –Versamark (Tsukineko); Stamps – Billy & Sparky at Window 1104-J, Mary & Mr. Meow at Window 1105-J, Christmas word cube RSW003CU (Sunshine Designs available at The Stamp Barn); foam tape, detail gold embossing powder, sheer ribbon, Tombow markers, water brush, Liquid Applique (white), loose glitter (Martha Stewart), gelly roll glitter pen, fine point black permanent marker (Martha Stewart).

The snow around the window frames is quite glittery. To do this, I sprinkled loose glitter onto the wet Liquid Applique – and then used my heat gun to puff. When it puffs the glitter makes it sparkly Liquid Applique. For the sentiment – I used Tombow #228 to colour directly onto my stamp and then stamp the sentiment onto the card (huff on the stamp first). This allowed me to make the stamp colour to the card well. Fr the background house brick, I used a black permanent fine marker to draw in the brick lines and then I used Tombow #977 and 969 to colour it – then blend.

I thought I would also show you how I work out the colouring for the cards, and show you the test I did of my idea for how I wanted to house to be around the stamped windows.
Here are my test pieces, where I did a scrap of the house bricks, and then stamp the images in Black Stazon and colour with the markers that I think I would like to use. This test coloured piece is also what I use to make my colour chart once I’m done making the card.

Here is the finished colour chart for you – if you want to give it a try too.

Enjoy!
Until next time, have a great day!

All about raspberries!

2010-06-29T20:43:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, we took the kids raspberry picking on Sunday and had a blast. We actually went there to pick strawberries – but the fields were closed until next weekend due to needing more time for more berries to ripen I guess. So – we took them up on their offer to get raspberries instead – and it was fun!
In order to get to the fields, we took the farm wagon out – which DS thought was WAY COOL!

Once we got out to the fields, DS and DD were the taste testers – confirming they tasted as good as they looked – take a peak:

Then back to the farm with our raspberries - on the farm wagon again. Here is DS with his treasure of raspberries. And yes, he dresses himself, in superhero pjs, day or night, no negotiation possible, end of conversation. Say no more.

When we got our baskets home – we made some raspberry jam – and it is so good!

DD had her last day of school today and we sent a special jar of jam for her teacher – along with a beautiful card she made herself with photos of her picking the berries. It was very sweet. I didn’t get a photo of the card, sorry – it was quite late once we got it all packaged up.
So that she had just the right paper for her raspberry card - I downloaded the digital patterned paper called "Preserve it - Lemons & raspberries" from the My Time Made Easy online store.
And this weekend is the Canada Day long weekend! AND it is strawberry festival time around here. So it’s strawberry jam next – can’t wait!!! And yes - I downloaded the digital patterned paper called "Preserve it Oranges & strawberries" too - so I am all prepared. I also got the digital stamp set called "Well Preserved"!

Until next time, have a great day!

All about Fathers – and lovely memories of my Dad

2010-06-17T20:07:00.000-05:00

Father’s Day is coming up on Sunday and I was wondering what the kids and I would do for DH this year. HERE is a link to a really personal book I put together for the kids to give to DH a few years ago. It was Father’s Day and his 40th birthday – all on the same day so I wanted to create something extra special for him. DH still has it displayed in his office for all to see, so I know he loved it.

This year, I wasn’t sure what we should do for him. I’ve been watching all of the various projects that people have been making and showcasing on their blogs for the men in their life. THIS ONE really stuck out for me – so clean, neat and the perfect thing for DS and DD to make for Daddy’s office. It’s about time DH had something a bit more current showing the kids. I followed Nicole’s instructions completely, right down to having the kids write their own names – and I added their age and the year. Little DS has only mastered the first letter of his name – M – so that is what he very proudly put on there. Kind of like “X marks the spot”. DD offered to help him finish his name – but I wanted it to be truly their own work, so M it is!

Silhouettes for Daddy:
Project dimensions – 11” x 14” frame with 5” x 7” opening

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); White wooden frame with white mat (Wal-Mart), computer photo editing software, adhesive, Sharpie fine point black maker.

Here's a closer look at each one - so you can see their handy work in signing the picture!

The kids were quite intrigued by me taking photos of them from the side. They didn’t understand at first why I wanted them to not have a big cheesy smile and not look right at the camera. But they enjoyed watching we convert their photos into the silhouettes! The projects are each lovingly wrapped up – all-be-it with the same amount of tape as what would be needed to wrap up an elephant (my kids LOVE tape!) – and hidden away in the closet until the big day. They are not very good at keeping secrets – so we’ll see if we make it until Sunday!

My Dad,
It has been 18 years since I lost my Dad. He was killed in a helicopter crash at the young age of 46. I was in my mid 20’s, and was still very much “Daddy’s little girl”, so it was all a very hard thing to deal with – and really still is if I am truthful. Fortunately – there was nothing left unsaid between us. He knew I loved him very much and I knew he loved me even more – unconditionally and absolutely.
As I watch my son grow up and change with each year that passes – I can see my Dad in his face when he flashes that cheeky little smile of his that makes his eyes twinkle. And I love it.

Here is one of my favourite photos of my Dad – it is so “him”. He is in his pilot uniform with his aviator glasses on, out in a field enjoying the beauty of nature around him.

Happy Father’s Day!

Braless!

2010-06-13T20:37:00.003-05:00

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Summer is struggling to show itself fully these days - but soon! And rainy days are perfect for buying new books and curling up and reading (which is exactly what all 4 of us did on Saturday!).
I was at a conference recently – and one of the guest speakers was a “naturalist” and encouraged all women to not wear bras! It was a packed room, probably 70% females – and you can imagine the stir in the air after he said this! One lady in particular starting getting a ton of texts on her phone in the minutes after the comment – with all her female employees letting her know they would be reporting to work on Monday braless! The giggles spread throughout the room quickly! It wasn’t going to be pretty!

So…..when I saw this STELLA image and saying on the BugABoo website – I had to have it, and make that lady a card. She’ll get a good laugh from it, that’s for sure!

While I was on the BugABoo site I got a few other digital images too – the Stella Still Hot (to do a card for another coworker who is continually having hot flashes!) and Gus At My Age! Too funny!

Braless:
Card dimensions – 3 ½ x 8 ½ “

Materials: CS – (Bazzill, SU!); Paper –Accademia (Fabriano); Digital Image – Stella Braless image and sentiment (BugABoo Stamps); Ribbon – (SU!); PUnches - Tag punch, large (SU!); Tombow markers, water brush, foam tape, Liquid Glass (CTMH), Stickles glitter glue.

Hope Stella makes you smile – and perhaps go braless!
Until next time, have a great day!

Matthew’s Chore Chart!

2010-06-01T20:12:00.000-05:00

Well – school is almost out and the summer will be upon us in no time! My little guys are off for the summer as is my big guy DH (he’s a school Principal). Daddy daycare sets in and things get a little out of control at times (you have no idea how many places you can find ice cream when they try hard!). So – thought I’d set up a bit of a chart to help keep things semi in order. I’ll do one up for DD as well – but here is DS’s. He’s just going on 4 soon so the list is not that complicated - YET.

Here’s another project using the Eat Cake Graphics images! It’s Matthew’s Chore Chart!

Chore Chart:
Project dimensions – 11 x 8 ½ “

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper –Accademia (Fabriano); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamps – 1139-M Responsibility (Eat Cake Graphics); Tombow markers, water brush, foam tape, computer generated chore chart.

And here is a close up of the main image for you.

The chart was just done in Excel on my PC – very basic and easy to do!

Until next time, have a great day!

Dear Santa!

2010-05-31T20:35:00.000-05:00

It’s Christmas in June! Did you know that there are 207 days until Christmas???!!! Just in case you wanted to know. Here’s another card using the Eat Cake Graphics images, for Christmas!

Doggy Greeting for Santa:

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper –Accademia (Fabriano); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamps – 1178-P Santa’s Doggy Welcome, 8187-D A new squeaky toy text (Eat Cake Graphics); Ribbon – misc. wide red satin; Tombow markers, water brush, foam tape, Stickles glitter glue, Liquid Applique (Marvy), heat gun.

And here is the colour chart for you – if you want to give it a try yourself.

For the fur on Santa’s hat and coat, I used Liquid Applique and puffed it with the heat gun to look like fur. A bit of glitter helped add some dimensions as well.

Until next time, have a great day!

Tweet!

2010-05-30T16:29:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a great weekend! The weather had been fantastic for getting out and enjoying! We started soccer this weekend – so the schedule is a bit frantic these days!

Here’s another card using the Eat Cake Graphics images! With everyone on Twitter – I thought I would do a tweet card – fun!

Tweet you soon:
Card dimensions – Shaped A2: 4 ¼ ” x 5 ½ ”

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper –Accademia (Fabriano); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko), ivy ink pad (CTMH); Stamps – 5025-E Crackers, 5026-E Kebler (Eat Cake Graphics); Punches – 1” circle punch (SU!), 1/8 “ (Cropadile); Tombow markers, water brush, foam tape, embroidery floss, computer generated coloured sentiment.

And here is the colour chart for you – if you want to give it a try yourself.

For the colour on the roof of the bird house, I simply ran my ink pad along the paper over and over again until it was coloured as I liked it. I also made another little coordinated car stand from the cardstock - as I did for these posts HERE.

Until next time, have a great day!

Doh!

2010-05-25T20:31:00.000-05:00

So what am I doing making a winter card on one of the hottest days so far??!! Having fun – that’s what I am doing! I do love the expression on the little guy getting the snowball in the rear! Doh! Makes me smile. I had a lot of fun using these two images – so cute, and remind me of my little guys playing in the snow.

Yep – it’s another card using the Eat Cake Graphics images! I stamped both images and then used a Sharpie fine point black marker to connect them with a freehand drawn ground line. Remember you can click on the picture to get a close up.

Snowfight:
Card dimensions – 5” square

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper –Accademia (Fabriano); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamps – 1117-F Look out! Cora's ready to throw, 1118-G Hit with snowball (Ouch!) (Eat Cake Graphics); Punches – snowflake border and large snowflake (Martha Stewart); Tombow markers, water brush, foam tape, Stickles glitter glue, Sharpie fine point black marker.

And here is the colour chart for you – if you want to give it a try yourself.

Until next time, have a great day and stay cool!

Cool Dude!

2010-05-24T17:05:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone has had a safe and happy long weekend – I know my family did! We really needed the down time to relax after some very heavy months at work and school. And the weather has just been fantastic! We had some new neighbours over, lots of kids playing, lots of noise, my brother and his family for his daughter’s birthday! And I got a little card time in too. Yeah!

Here’s another card using the Eat Cake Graphics images! Remember you can click on the card photo for a close up look.

Cool Dude:
Card dimensions – A2: 4 ¼ ” x 5 ½ ”

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper –Accademia (Fabriano); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamps – 4005-E Arthur Alooishus in his stripe shirt (Eat Cake Graphics), cool dude! sentiment (Inky Antics); Ribbon – ½ “ black striped grosgrain (Offray); Punches – circle punch (SU!), 1/8 “ hole (Cropadile); Tombow markers, water brush, foam tape, silver jump ring.

And here is the colour chart for you – if you want to give it a try yourself. Once the image is colour – take the 098 markers and use the pen end to draw in some grass around his feet for a realistic effect.

Until next time, have a great day and stay cool!

Mother

2010-05-01T09:07:00.000-05:00

All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother.
- Abraham Lincoln

Well, Mother’s Day is getting close – make sure you remember all those ladies in your life on that special day!
I came up with these 2 cards, one for my Mum and the other for my Mother-in-Law. Not only are they Mother’s Day cards, but they double as photo frames too – simply insert a special photo of yourself or the grandkids and you’ve got a great little surprise for Mum. I also made little paper stands to match that can hold the card up to display your photos!

Gladioli Frame and stand:

And here it is showing the stand too:

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper –Accademia (Fabriano); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamps – Gladiola HSH 363 M (The Stamp Barn); Coluzzle and oval nested template, swivel knife, Tombow markers, water brush, foam tape, clear silicone.

Lilac Frame and stand:

And here it is showing the stand too:

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper –Accademia (Fabriano); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamps – Lilac 2 pk CPSD002 D (The Stamp Barn); Coluzzle and oval nested template, swivel knife, Tombow markers, water brush, foam tape, Gel glitter pen.

Both frames were stamped using the new Spring line of images from The Stamp Barn. To make the photo frame on the fronts, I first drew the oval shape from the coluzzle cutting template so that I would make sure I stamped the images in the right spot, making sure some spilled over into the oval over the photo. Then I placed the Coluzzle template back over the oval I drew – and I cut it out, making sure not to cut where the stamped image was. To cut out around the image I just used my sharp scissors.

Make sure you remember to honour that special lady in your life!

Until next time, have a great day!

Oh, the places you will go!

2010-04-28T19:40:00.001-05:00

Today’s card is one I made for a friend who is moving on to a new exciting position at another office (but still with the same company). She will be missed for sure, and I just wanted to let her know that I was proud of her and that I know she will do well!!!

Bye-bye girl:
Card dimensions – A2, 4 1/4” x 5 1/2”

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper –Accademia (Fabriano); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamps – Bye-bye (Mo’s Digital Pencil); Prismacolor pencils, Gamsol, Blending stumps, foam tape, Quickie glue pen, loose glitter.

This image is a digital one I purchased from Mo’s Digital Pencil. This image is now also available in rubber from Stamping Bella – but they were sold out of this at Scrapfest – so I bought it on-line. I got this one and little boy – they are so cute!!!

Until next time, have a great day!

Look up, look way up!

2010-04-25T19:35:00.000-05:00

Here’s another card using an Eat Cake Graphics images – it’s called “Looking up” and could be used for many different scenes depending on what they were looking at, such as: a lightning storm, Aurora Borealis, shooting stars, a plane, bugs or birds – and lots more!

Looking up:
Card dimensions – 3 3/4” x 8 1/2”

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper –Accademia (Fabriano); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamps – Looking Up 1061-L (Eat Cake Graphics); Tombow markers, waterbrush, , foam tape, black hemp twine (CTMH), computer generated poem.

I hand-drew the little stars dangling from the black twine. Just draw, cut them out and then stick them to the end of your ribbon or string wiht glue dots.
To make the twinkling stars in the night sky – I used the blade of my cutting knife to scrape off the watercolouring to reveal the plain watercolour paper underneath. That is a nice, neat way to show the light paper when you need to. Just be careful not to press so hard that you rip your paper and scene! Here’s a closer look:

Until next time, have a great day!

Ode to the Moose

2010-04-24T16:01:00.000-05:00

It’s another Eat Cake Graphics image today – with a very typical Canadian Majestic Moose in the scene (although the mountain in the background isn’t typical of my area of Ontario!)

Majestic Moose by the Lake:

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper –Accademia (Fabriano); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamps – Lake Shoreline 7068-P (Eat Cake Graphics); Ribbon – 1/2” cream sheer (Offray); Tombow markers, water brush, Liquid Applique, loose glitter, ¾” circle punch (SU!), foam tape, twine, button.

And here is the colour chart if you watnt o give it a try yourself:

I started this scene by stamping the main image and then colouring the water below the image. Then I stamped the same image using a regular black ink (not StazOn) onto a clear acetate sheet. I immediately turned it over, ink side down, onto the water right below the main image – so that it looked like the shadow of the shoreline reflecting n the water. After I completely finished colouring the entire scene – I use the Liquid Applique to put snow on the mountain top. But before I heated it up to puff it, I sprinkled loose glitter on the wet Liquid Applique – so that it sparkles when it puffed up.

I think this would make a great Father’s Day card – since that is coming up shortly.

Until next time, have a great day!

Coneflower

2010-04-22T21:04:00.000-05:00

Today’s card is made using another of the brand new release from The Stamp Barn – it’s the coneflower from the Sunshine Designs line. I absolutely love coneflowers – can’t wait to plant some in our new garden this summer. I saw a new red coloured one - WOW!

Coneflower:
Card dimensions – A2, 4 ¼ ” x 5 ½ ”

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper –Accademia (Fabriano); Ink – Versamark (Tsukineko); Stamps – Coneflower SD095 K (The Stamp Barn); Ribbon – dotted sheer (Offray); clear silicone, foam tape, Detail gold embossing powder (The Stamp Barn), Tombow markers, water brush, BowEasy.

Here’s a close up of the silicone used to add dimension to the flower.

And here is the colour if you want to give it a try yourself.

Until next time, have a great day!

Can you tell it’s Monday??!!

2010-04-19T19:38:00.000-05:00

This is definitely not my usual theme for cards – but it is such a fun scene when you pair the 2 images up and SO perfect for a Monday work day. And yes! in the game of life, sometimes you’re the fire hydrant and sometimes you’re the dog. And in my opinion, the only thing that determines which one you are is whether it is Monday or Friday!!!! Am I right??!!
Definitely check out the Eat Cake Graphics site - especially if you love dog images. Holly has drawn some beautiful dog images - they are all terrific to colour, with lots of opportunity to make the colourations so realistic - AND CUTE!!

Mr Peddles:
Card dimensions – A2, 4 ¼” x 5”

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper –Accademia (Fabriano); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamps – Mr Peedles 3016-F, Fire Hydrant 9046-E (Eat Cake Graphics); Ribbon – ¼” grosgrain (Offray); Tombow makrers, water brush, foam tape, computer generated sentiment.

The image was coloured in the Watercolour With Markers Technique – then I used my Prismcolour pencils to add in some grass.
Here is the colour chart if you want o give it a try youself!

Until next time, have a great day!

A Really Big Read!

2010-04-18T15:28:00.000-05:00

Here’s another card using the Eat Cake Graphics images – 2 of them actually – plus a little doodling too. There is Liquid Glass on the Hen’s glasses and some sparkle on the books – not sure if you can see it in the photo. It's coloured wiht Gamsol Magic technique - using my Prismacolour pencils. I added a title to each book (nice and simple - A, B, C) and a border around the image with a Sharpie fine point marker.

The Little Red Hen:
Card dimensions – 4” x 5”

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper –Accademia (Fabriano); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamps – Ms. Eggworth 5004-D, Stack of Books 8052-J (Eat Cake Graphics); Ribbon – ¼” grosgrain (Offray); Punches – corner punch (SU!), Prismacolor pencils, Gamsol, Blending stumps, foam tape, Liquid Glass (CTMH), Quickie glue pen, loose glitter, Sharpie fine black marker.

The Little Red Hen was the first book I received when I had my daughter – from a long time friend who spent many hours reading that same book to his children when they were young. Yes – we to have spent hours reading that book – we even made up silly names for the Little Red Hen’s 3 chicks: Peep, Peep (yes same name) and Peep Junior. I used to “peck” the kids in a tickle and they loved the story!!! Our book is well loved – but I looked at it when I started to colour this image to make sure the hen’s colour was right to the book!

Until next time, have a great day!

Sparkle Butterfly from Enchanted Hollow

2010-04-14T07:31:00.001-05:00

Today’s card is made using another one of the brand new Spring 2010 stamps in the release from the Stamp Barn! It is the Sparkle Butterfly image from the Enchanted Hollow line from The Stamp Barn (which all images are lovely – check them out!). I also made my own background design using 1 of the sprigs from the 3-pack cling set of sprigs,

Sparkle:

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper –Accademia (Fabriano); Ink – Versamark (Tsukineko); Stamps – Sparkle HSH 362M, Sprig (1 of 3) CPSD 099D (Stamp Barn); Ribbon – grosgrain and satin ¼” ribbon (Offray); gold embossing powder (Stamp Barn), Tombow markers, waterbrush, foam tape.

And here’s a close up of the Butterfly:

And here are the colour charts for the butterfly and the sprig - give it a try!

So GLAD!

2010-04-11T21:15:00.000-05:00

Today’s card is made using one of the brand new Spring 2010 stamps in the release from the Stamp Barn! It is the Gladiola image from the Heather’s Stamp Haven line. And with a flower of that name, it seemed only right to have the sentiment play up the GLAD in the flower’s name!

So GLAD:
Card dimensions – 3 ¼” x 8 ½”

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper –Accademia (Fabriano); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamps – Gladiola HSH 363 M (Stamp Barn); Ribbon - White sheer ribbon (Offray); Punches – oval, scalloped oval (SU!), 1/8” hole (Fiskars); Jump ring, Tombow markers, waterbrush, clear silicone, foam tape, sentiment printed on computer.

And here’s a close up of the flower petals that are popped up using the clear silicone. It is adds a nice dimension to the card:

And for those of you who would like to give this a try for yourself - here is the colour chart. Remember, you can save this for future use by right clicking on the image and saving the picture to your computer to print off and use when you are ready. Hope you like!

Until next time, have a great day!

My Sweet Lily

2010-03-23T20:15:00.000-05:00

Here’s today’s card using Eat Cake Graphics images! Enjoy! And remember to check the Eat Cake Graphics Design Team site for all the other projects too!

Sweet Lily spreads her sparkles:
Card dimensions – (3 ¾ x 8 ½ ”)
Here’s the card:

Here’s a close up of the fairy:

And here is the sentiment inside:

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Stamps – Sweet Lily 1154-I, Fairy Dust 9048-C (Eat Cake Graphics); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Patterned Paper, flower sticker, photos corners, sentiment – Tim Coffey; foam tape, Tombow markers, waterbrush, Stickles glitter glue.

I couldn’t resist this little pixie fairy, for a few reasons. My sweet little girl’s name is Lily – so of course the stamp called Sweet Lily caught my eye right away.

As well, when I was a little girl, my Mum used to tell me that all the fairies curled up inside of tulips every night to sleep – and then in the morning when the sun came up, and the tulips opened – they flew away. So as soon as I saw that image, I thought back to when I used to look at the tulips in the morning, hoping to catch sight of a little fairy. I knew exactly what the card needed to look like!

Here is the Tombow marker colour chart for you to play along if you would like:

Until next time, have a great day!

Cookie please!

2010-03-22T19:27:00.000-05:00

How about this for a nice little treat for someone? So easy and so cute to give! Give it a try!
Today’s post is a little treat for those of you with a sweet tooth, again using those Eat Cake Graphics images. Love them! This little girl is so cute, dragging her stuffie behind her!

Gwennie’s Discussion!
Here is the completed cookie box - closed:

And here is a close up of the sentiment – so cute:

And inside the box – A COOKIE (how about a chocolate drizzled shortbread cookie?!!). A really cute way to give a little home baked treat to someone:

Materials: CS – (Prism); Paper –Accademia (Fabriano); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamps – Gwennie’s discussion with mom 1103-I, Gwennie Informs 8139-E (Eat Cake Graphics); Tombow markers, waterbrush, Stickles glitter glue, Sheer ribbon (Offray), Ivory waxy flax (CTMH). Spellbinders square and scalloped square dies, Cuttlebug, foam tape, 1/4" hole punch, Parchment paper, cookie.

Here is the colour chart for the image if you want to give it a try! Remember, right click on the photo and save to your computer for later.

You can check out all the Eat Cake Graphics Design Team projects HERE - take a look at what the other designers have made!

Until next time, have a great day!
Gwennie's discussion:

Little Phillip - The boy set

2010-03-21T20:20:00.000-05:00

For today – I thought I’d show you the boy version of the Summery set I posted last time, again using those Eat Cake Graphics images. Phillip is definitely ready to go to the beach, water floatie and all!

Little Phillip’s Ready!
Here is the complete set:

Here is the card on its own:

Here is the little bag and then a close up of the zipper pull:

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper –Accademia (Fabriano); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamps – Little Phillip's Ready Water 1126-G, Beach Sign 6028-F (Eat Cake Graphics); Tombow markers, waterbrush, Sharpie markers, ShrinkyDinks Frosted Rough & Ready, Jewellery find cell phone charm hanger, Heat gun, PUnches - scaloped border, dragonfly (Marvvy), Crop-a-dile, Stickles glitter glue, Striped grosgrain ribbon, Hemp twine, miscellaneous red button, foam tape, pencil case.

Again, the zipper pull was made using ShrinkyDink plastic. A neat way to make your own charms or pulls to match your cards and projects.
Here is the colour chart for the image if you want to give it a try! Remember, right click on the photo and save to your computer for later.

You can check out all the Eat Cake Graphics Design Team projects HERE - take a look at what the other designers have made!

Until next time, have a great day!

Gwendaline and a bit of sunshine!

2010-03-20T14:02:00.000-05:00

Here is a sunshine-y little set using some more of the Eat Cake Graphics images. Boy, I am in the mood for summer, so get out your sunglasses!

Gwendaline's Ready for Sun!
Here is the complete set:

Here is the card on it's own:

Here is the little bag and then a close up of the zipper pull:

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper –Accademia (Fabriano); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamps – Gwendaline's Ready For Sun 1123-I, Beach Sign 6028-F (Eat Cake Graphics); Tombow markers, waterbrush, Sharpie markers, ShrinkyDinks Frosted Rough & Ready, Jewellery find cell phone charm hanger, Heat gun, Crop-a-dile, Stickles glitter glue, Polka-dot sheer ribbon (Offray), foam tape, pencil case.

The zipper pull was made using ShrinkyDink plastic - lots of fun! My little guys and I made more of these zipper pulls today (Easter bunnies and teddy bears!) for necklaces and zip pulls. Lots of fun and SO EASY! Even hubby thinks this stuff is cool!!!!

Here is the colour chart for the image if you wantt o give it a try! Any questions, just send me a note and I will get back to you! Right click on the photo and save to your computer for later.

You can check out all the Eat Cake Graphics Design Team projects HERE - take a look at what the other designers have made!
Until next time, have a great day!

Design Team News!!!

2010-03-19T21:50:00.001-05:00

Guess what???!!

I am thrilled to say that Holly from Eat Cake Graphics has selected me to be on her Design Team!!! If you haven't checked out her site - make sure you do! There are some absolutely wonderful stamp images, especially for all those who love to colour! I know "Spring has Sprung" but can I say that I can't wait to use some of the winter and Christmas images!!!! (Sorry I know the snow is melting, but I do love Christmas images!).
I got my package of stamps last Friday and couldn't wait to ink them up.
Here is my first card with my new images. Enjoy (hope it makes you smile).

Have to Pee!!!!

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper –Accademia (Fabriano), patterned paper; Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamps – Boy At Bathroom Door 1093-K, How Long A Minute 8084-E (Eat Cake Graphics); Tombow markers, waterbrush, Striped grosgrain ribbon, foam tape.

Having grown up with a brother, I bet he could totally relate to this picture. I used to spend hours in the morning, getting ready for school. I always made sure I was the first one up, and first one in the bathroom. Back then, there wasn't a bathroom on every floor or with every room as there are in new homes now, so I bet there were more than a few days that he did the "Pee Dance" outside the door waiting for me!
Hope this made you smile. And make sure you check out the Eat Cake Graphics site!

Here is the colour chart using Tombow markers if you want to give it a try as I have. Remember, you can click on any of the images posted to see it larger, OR you can Right Click and save it to you computer to use later.

Until next time, have a great day!

Enchanted Hollow Castle

2010-03-03T21:20:00.000-05:00

Here's an "Enchanted" one for you - it is the castle from the Enchanted Hollow line from The Stamp Barn. My little girl loves all things princess related, especially the thought of a castle to live in - AND her favourite colour is purple. Hope this meets her royal, high standards! :)

Enchanted Castle:
Custom shape/size

Materials: Paper - CS (Bazzill), Fabriano watercolour paper; Stamp - Enchanted Castle, Fairy Dust from Enchanted Hollow line (Stamp Barn); Ink - Versamark (Tsukineko); Cream sheer ribbon (Offray), key charm, silver detail embossing powder, foam tape adhesive, Tombow markers, paint brush.

The card base is 5" x 5" square card, cut into a rough castle shape at the top, and the castle image is watercoloured and then cut out and popped up on foam tape. I went for a grass look below the castle, so I cut a strip of green cardstock into thin grass strips and curled them up slightly with my scissors.
Hope you're having a great week so far. I'm waiting for a package of new stamps to arrive - I'll let you know when they arrive, and what they are - as soon as I have them in hand!!! Can't wait!
Until next time, have a great day!

A Lollipop!

2010-03-01T21:59:00.000-05:00

Hi there - Happy first day of March to everyone - can't believe it is March already (but glad we are that much closer to Spring!!).
I've had a round of viral infections going through everyone in the family these past 2 weeks - absolutely NO FUN! But hopefully we are on the tail end of that as well! Everyone made it to school and work today - which is a big change :)

Little Presley Lollipop:
Card dimensions – A2 (4 ¼” x 5 ½” )

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Stamp - Presley Lollipop (Stamping Bella); White yarn (miscellaneous), light blue brads (CTMH), Stickles glitter glue, foam tape adhesive, Prismacolor pencils, Gamsol, blending stumps.

I couldn't resist this Presley Lollipop image when Stamping Bella launched the Lollipop collection - I think it has something to do with her slippers, and the Teddy! I think the next time I do this image I will have to flock the bear and the slippers - to make them fuzzy!!

I sent this little card off in a package to my Aunt - with some pre-stamped images for her to colour and try her hand at the colouring. There were lots of watercolouring cards in there too - I do hope she has fun with them! Aunt Margaret (or anyone from her craft group!) - if you are reading this, I can't wait to hear how you do with the cards!!! Have fun!!

Until next time, have a great day!

Another Hambo digital

2010-02-14T12:52:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! Hope you're having a great day with those you love.
Also - for those Canadian provinces celebrating Family Day tomorrow - Happy Long Weekend!
It's a bit chilly today - so a good one to sit inside by the fire. We are doing a traditional turkey dinner tonight (I know it's not Christmas or Thanksgiving - but we like those kinds of family dinners!) so the house smells great right now!

Last night I had some time to colour - while the kids coloured their own images beside me. I worked on a few Hambo digital stamps again: The stage background and the clown juggling presents. Instead of printing off the two image separately and then just adhering the clown to the front of stage with a Pop-dot (as I did for the cupcake ones in the last post), I actually merged the two images on my computer before printing . I printed an extra Clown too, so that I could pop up the presents in his hands. I love how my Digital program brought just the outline image of the clown over the background, not blocking out any of the surrounding stage as a regular jpeg image would do if you simply placed it in front of the stage image.

Juggling Clown on Stage:

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Digital images – Clown Gifts digi, Stage digi (Hambo); Ribbon - dotted grosgrain (Offray); Prismacolor pencils, blending stumps, Gamsol, Stickles glitter, mini pop dots.

Until next time, have a great day!

Gone digital!

2010-02-08T20:30:00.000-05:00

Hi there! I've been really bad at posting lately - life sometimes gets so busy you're not sure which way is up!
Anyway - this post has perfect timing - because the kids had a birthday party to go to for a set of twins (a girl and a boy) so I got to test 1 of the best backgrounds out right away.

I have always loved the Hambo website - makes me laugh! Something about pigs, and outhouses......and pig in outhouses! Anyway - I checked out some of their digital stamps (OK, a lot of them!) and just love them. There are background images and then lots of fun images to use on those backgrounds! I can't wait to colour them all - so for those of you who like colouring you should definitely check them out. HERE is the link to the Hambo site - and if you want the digital images look at the link on the left side of their home page that says DIGITAL IMAGES. I picked up most of the backgrounds and a lot of holiday, birthday and animals too! You can try them out first by downloading the FREE ones to see if you like digital. Print them off on cardstock and do the Gamsol and coloured pencil technique OR print them on watercolour paper and do the watercolour with markers technique. Lots of fun!

I did these ones really quickly so they are not fantastic specimens - but the kids won't mind at all. I customized the background image with their names to make them personal.
Here are the 2 tags attached to their presents:

Then here are the tags up close:

I coloured them quickly with my Prismacolour pencils and used Gamsol to blend - really quickly. Then it was off to the party!

Anyway, the site is worth checking out - lots of fun there! And laughs too!

Until next time, have a great day!

Happy 2010!

2010-01-02T10:15:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to everyone - wishing you all the very best for health, happiness and home for 2010!!

Thanks to everyone for dropping in all these years. Can you believe my very first post on the blog was December 31st, 2006??!! I have no clue where 3 years has gone - but WOW what a ride.
Today - I am starting off the New Year with a post of a brand new non-Holiday card - PLUS all of the Christmas cards I didn't get to before Christmas. So grab a coffee and take a look through them all. Enjoy!

Team Effort - Sending extra love your way!:

Materials: CS (Bazzill, Prism); Paper - Accademia (Fabriano); Ink - StazOn Black (Tsukineko); Stamps - Team Effort (Penny Black); Prismacolor pencils, odorless mineral spirits, blending stump, adhesive, foam tape adhesive, striped grosgrain ribbon, stickles glitter, black button, black waxy flax (CTMH), sentiment printed on computer (font colour to match dark teal cardstock mat).

And here are some other Christmas cards for you to look through. I will post them all on my SplitCoast gallery as well (link on the right side of the screen) if you want all the materials listings or details. Remember, you can click on the image to get a larger view of it.
Until next time, have a great day! Enjoy!

Winner! WInner!

2009-12-18T21:05:00.000-05:00

And the winner of Blog Candy #7 is..........

Karen Wilson - congratulations Karen, and thank you for leaving comments every week - it is finally YOUR TURN to get pulled from the hat!!!!
Karen said:
I'd love to win this set as I have no reindeer in my collection!
Karen, send me your mailing address and the two sets will be off to you right away!

And tonight I'll leave you with this thought - as we all scramble around on this last weekend before Christmas making sure our shopping is done - remember this from The Grinch:

"It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes, or bags.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.
Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas...
He thought, means a little bit more. "

Until next time, have a great day!

More Christmas Cards

2009-12-16T20:35:00.000-05:00

First a quick reminder to leave a comment, or send an e-mail any time this week until Friday night - to enter in to the Blog Candy #7 shown HERE.

Today's post is a set of Potted Christmas cards - such a fun little cube from Sunshine Designs! All 4 cards are the exact same layout - just using a different image from the cube.

Materials: CS (Bazzill); Paper - Accademia (Fabriano); Ink - StaaOn Black (Tsukineko); Stamps - Potted Christmas Cube (Sunshine Designs - Stamp Barn); Tombow markers, paint brush, adhesive, foam tape adhesive, Ribbon (CTMH).

And - I know we are all feeling a bit stressed out at this time of year. So - this cartoon sums up how most of us are feeling! Makes me laugh looking at it - as I'm pretty sure that's what I look like at work these days! It's pajama day at my kid's school tomorrow - and I am so envious. Wish I could wear mine to work!!! Hope this makes you smile too!

Until next time, have a great day!

It's all about the caffeine - man!

2009-12-14T21:02:00.000-05:00

Remember to leave a coment this week - so that you can get your name into the draw for Blog Candy #7! It's 2 fun Christmas stamps - shown HERE.

This time of year, things get oh, so busy and a bit (OK, a lot) of caffeine helps you get through it all!
I did a few fun cards around the coffee/caffeine theme - so thought I would share them today.

Coffee Pot Card:

Materials: CS (Bazzill); Paper - Accademia (Fabriano); Ink - StazOn Black (Tsukineko); Stamps - Cling Pack (Stamp Barn); Tombow markers, paint brush, adhesive, foam tape adhesive, Ribbon (Offray), white black (CTMH), Black Waxy Flax (CTMH), Coluzzle circle and swivel knife.

I free hand cut the retro coffee pot shape onto scrap paper to make my template. Then I folded the cardstock in half and put the top of the coffee pot there on the fold. There is a score line to open the card along the neck of the pot. The mug is popped up on foam tape to add dimension as well.

JustRite - coffee set to-go:

And a closer look at the single travel mug:

Materials: CS (Bazzill); Paper - Accademia (Fabriano); Ink - StazOn Black (Tsukineko); Stamps - JustRite A Little Caffeine set (Stamp Barn); Tombow markers, paint brush, Terrifically Tacky Tape adhesive, foam tape adhesive, Ribbon (Offray), Tag punches (SU!), thermal coffee cups (Dixie), tray (Tim Hortons).

I think these coffee cups would be a great way to give a coffee gift card (Tim Hortons, of course!) to a co-worker or friend. Just put the card in the cup and you are ready to go!

Until next time, have a great day!

Another Blog Candy, the winner of #7 and Santa

2009-12-13T18:55:00.000-05:00

And the winner of Blog Candy #6 is.......
Christine Dol!
Congratulations Christine - can you send me your snail mail addie (again!) and this package will be on it's way to you!

Blog Candy #7 is 2 stamp sets!
Again - leave me a comment or send me an e-mail for those who do it that way - and you will have a chance to win these two adorable sets (I love the reindeer tracks one!). I will do the draw on Friday night for you and post another Blog Candy (#8!) then

Thought I would also share a photo of my little ones riding on the Santa Express Train - out of Tottenham, Ontario this weekend. They got to sit and chat with Santa, ring the jingle bells - and tell him what they were wishing for, for Christmas!

And in honour of Santa and his reindeer, here is today's card! A moonlit reindeer. I saw a card on another blog with the sentiment "On Dasher, On Dancer, On MasterCard and Visa" - I think that would be a fun sentiment for this card!

Materials: CS (Bazzill, SU!); Paper - Accademia (Fabriano); Ink - Versamark (Tsukineko); Stamps - Moonlit Reindeer (Sunshine Designs - Stamp Barn); Tombow markers, paint brush, detail gold embossing powder, adhesive, foam tape adhesive, Ribbon (SU!), white button (CTMH), Hemp twine.

Until next time have a great day!

The Christmas House and colour chart.

2009-12-10T20:47:00.000-05:00

REMINDER - don't forget to leave me a comment or send me an e-mail on any of the posts this week to be entered for the BLog Candy #6 shown HERE.

Thought you would like to see me Christmas House card today - it is so fitting for our family sine this is our first Christmas in our new house too. I love the little poem!

And here is a close up of the little poem.

Materials: CS (Bazzill); Paper - Accademia (Fabriano); Ink - StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamps - Christmas House, Key (Sunshine Designs and Heather's Stamp Haven - Stamp Barn); Tombow markers, paint brush, adhesive, foam tape adhesive, white embroidery floss (DMC).

Here are the words to the poem if you want to use it yourself:
Dear Santa, our house is new

and may not have an open flue.
So, just in case, I’ll hang this key
above my door for you to see.
Then, I’ll go to bed worrying no more,
because your key will open our door.
So now I’ll snuggle in and close my eyes tight
knowing that you’re to visit my house tonight.

In case you want to try this house yourself - here is a version of my colouring chart for you to try it to!

Until next time, have a great day!

New Blog Candy #6

2009-12-09T15:46:00.000-05:00

Ok - so it's Wednesday not Monday - sorry about that!
Here is Blog Candy #6!
To win this stamp set - again, just leave me a comment on any post this week - or send an e-mail - and I will do the draw on Sunday this time to give you time to comment. I will also post the next Candy #7 on that day too.

Remember - you can click on the image to make it larger. The sentiment says "Holy Night" in a lovely script font. Sample card comes with the stamp set.

I have 4 more sets after this to give away up until Christmas - so they will be fast and furious! Stay tuned.
Then as my gift to you - I will give away the complete set of stamps as the final Blog Candy! YES - all of the stamps sets I used to make the sample cards will be packaged into 1 large give-away. My Christmas Present to you!

NOW - on to today's project.....
Here is a quick any easy little gift you can make. It is using the JustRite stamp sets which are great if you haven't tried them. Stamp Barn has them all on their site if you are looking for them - just click HERE.
It is a "diaper fold" pouch (there are lots of other names for it too) that you can tuck a little bag of goddies into for a friend. Or perhaps a hand-made cookie for the teacher!

And here's close up of the main image:

Materials: Paper - Accademia (Fabriano), Patterned paper from Christmas slab, metallic silver; Ink -Versamark (Tsukineko); Stamps - (JustRite, Stamp Barn); Tombow markers, paint brush, silver embossing powder, Liquid Applique, adhesive, foam tape adhesive, cello bag, silver twist tie, silver ribbon, circle punch, Scalloped circle punch (Marvy).

Until next time, have a great day!

Blog Candy #5 - WINNER

2009-12-04T20:50:00.000-05:00

And the WINNER of Blog Candy #5 is.......................

Deloris - who said:
I love Inky Antics stamps and that turtle set is sooo cute!

Thanks for giving us the chance to win some awesome blog candy!

So Deloris - send me an e-mail with your address and the Turtle set will be on it's way to you right away!

Another Blog Candy will go up on Monday with a sample card too - just for you!
I have 4 different sets left to give away, plus some extra treats too - so there's lots for everyone over the next few weeks. Don't worry!

Until next time, have a great day.

A set of Snowmen "Spring" Cards - and Blog Candy #5 reminder

2009-12-03T10:35:00.000-05:00

Snow is on the way - at least in the form of Snowmen!

First, just a reminder to leave me a comment - any comment - all this week up to Friday night either by leaving a comment on one of the Posts on here or via e-mail (thanks everyone who has been e-mailing - I have received them!) - for you win the Birthday Turtle clear stamp set shown HERE. Blog Candy #5

For today - here is the same card and layout using all 4 of the snowmen images on the Snowmen Sunshine Designs cube - LOVE these litle guys. The card folds flat to put in an envelope and mail - but then "springs" up to stand and show your main image! Thus, it's a "Spring" card!
Remember you can click on the image if you want to see it up close.

Card Version 1

Card Version 2

Card Version 3

Card Version 4

Materials: CS (Bazzill, Bazzill Bling); Paper - Accademia (Fabriano); Ink - StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamps - Snowman Cube (Sunshine Designs, Stamp Barn); Tombow markers, paint brush, adhesive, Cuttlebug, Embossing Folder - Swiss dots, Spellbinders die - nested squares, foam tape adhesive.

And here is a great Cards That Move - Spinner card I have done before - for you to see how versatile this stamp cube is LOVE IT! Let it snow - Man!!!!

Until next time - have a great day!

Poinsettia Card - And Blog Candy #5 reminder

2009-12-01T21:48:00.000-05:00

Hi there! Our first taste of snow today - December 1st! Can't believe where the time has gone.

Just a quick reminder to leave a comment (any comment) on any of the posts this week - or by e-mailing me directly - and you will be entered into the draw for the Inky Antics Birthday Turtle clear stamp set. HERE is the link to the post with the info on that if you need it - It's Blog Candy #5.

Now for today's card:
Here is one of my favourtie flower stamp images from Sunshine Designs - and of course it is a Holiday flower. Remember - you can click on any of the images if you want a bigger photo.

Materials: CS (Bazzill); Paper - Accademia (Fabriano); Ink - Versamark (Tsukineko); Stamps - Poinsettia SD029M, sentiment - Christmas Word cube (Sunshine Designs, Stamp Barn); Tombow markers, paint brush, adhesive, detail gold embossing powder, Sheer ribbon - cream (Offray), oval punch (SU!), gold jump ring, 1/8" hole punch, silicone.

And here's a closer look at the flower itself.

The 4 petals in the fore front were gently curled around a pencil and then adhered to the base image with clear silicone. Silicone is a great way to get extra height from your adhesive - and it dries solid so there is no movement of the piece or flattening (as there sometimes is with foam tape).

Until next time have a great day!

Blog Candy #5 - It's a Turtle of a set!

2009-11-30T21:53:00.001-05:00

So....everyone knows by now that I have a thing for turtle stamps - especially the Inky Antics turtle sets.
So this week's Blog Candy #5 is the Inky Antics Birthday Turtle clear stamps set - see it HERE on their site. You need to enter Birthday Turtle into the Search field on their site. It is such a great stamp set!

To enter - simply leave me a comment - anything at all (no special question to answer) on this post or any of the others I do this week. I will do the draw on Friday night and post the winner then!

And so that you can see this stamp set in action - here are some cards from the past that I have posted using this set. Just click on the photos to see a close view of each if you wish.

Until next time - have a great day!

Blog Candy #4 WINNER!

2009-11-27T21:45:00.001-05:00

And the winner of Blog Candy #4 is...............
Jackie B who said:
I get to go to my brother`s for another Christmas, so no shopping for me. I have actually had many good buys already. So I won`t complain.

Congrats Jackie - it's on it was to you this weekend! Enjoy!
I'm going to wait until Monday to post Blog Candy #5 - I'll put that up for Monday bright and early, along with a new card too.

And for your weekend chuckle - here is some Reindeer Poop!

And a closer look:

Materials: CS (Bazzill); Paper - Accademia (Fabriano); Ink - StazOn Black (Tsukineko); Stamps - Reindeer cube (Sunshine Designs, Stamp Barn); Tombow markers, paint brush, adhesive, cello bag, Gold Smooch, Chocolate covered raisins.

Here is the poem in case you want to try these yourself!
I hear that you’ve been naughty
So listen, here’s the scoop.
I’m running short on coal this year
So you get Reindeer Poop!

Until next time, have a great day!

More cards in the same theme! Blog Candy REMINDER!

2009-11-26T21:22:00.000-05:00

Just a quick reminder for you to leave me a comment to enter into the draw for the BLOG CANDY #4 shown HERE (Post below this, at the end). I will do the draw tomorrow night - and also post the weekend Blog Candy #5!
What I asked was:
Let me know if you plan on going out Boxing Day shopping, in light of the fact that Christmas is on Friday - the sales will be in full swing on Saturday - and the discounts will be huge this year (if the pre-holiday sales are any indication!).

Now on to 2 cards that used similar paper from CTMH as in the post below. I was on a roll!
Roly Poly Snowman:

Materials: CS, Designer Paper - (CTMH); Paper - Accademia (Fabriano); Ink - StazOn Black (Tsukineko), Twilight (CTMH); Stamps - Roly Poly Snowman (Sunshine Designs, Stamp Barn); Tombow markers, paint brush, adhesive foam tape, Grosgrain ribbon - Twilight (CTMH), Small white brad (CTMH), Snowflake punch (Martha Stewart), Gold Smooch.

Fancy Skater:

Materials: CS, Designer Paper - (CTMH); Paper - Accademia (Fabriano); Ink - StazOn Black (Tsukineko), Twilight (CTMH); Stamps - Fancy Skater (Sunshine Designs, Stamp Barn); Tombow markers, paint brush, adhesive foam tape, Sheer ribbon - blue (Offray).

Until next time, have a great day!

Blog Candy WINNER! Teddy Bears and Blog Candy #4.

2009-11-23T20:55:00.000-05:00

And the Winner of the Blog Candy #3 from THIS post is.............

Christine Dol - and make sure you click on that link to see her blog! Her colouring is so wonderful, her layouts are fanastic - and take a look at her version of the Placecard Holders!!! WOW! I actually met Christine at a watercolouring class I did a few years ago, and what I remember most is GLITTER!!!!!!
Christine said:
I put my decorations up after my sons birthday which is Dec.9th. Usually that means there is snow on the ground and the music is playing on the radio and it definetly puts you in the holiday mood!

So, Christine, send me your mailing address and the little stamp set and card sample will be on their way to you!

Now on to today's card and the Blog Candy #4 in the same theme. It's all about the Teddy Bears.

Teddy in a Stocking:

Materials: CS, Designer Paper - (CTMH); Paper - Accademia (Fabriano); Ink - Versamark (Tsukineko), Twilight (CTMH); Stamps - Teddy Stocking HOH 030G (House on a Hill, Stamp Barn); Tombow markers, paint brush, adhesive foam tape, satin ribbon - white (Offray), detail goldr embossing powder, White button, Hemp twine, foam tape.

This card uses some lovely coloured cardstock and patterned paper from CTMH - the Twilight colour is so nice! To colour I used the Tombow markers, but also used the ink pad Twilight to get it to match as closely as possible to the paper. The little bear was stamped a second time so that I could cut him out and pop him up on the original image. Such a happy looking bear!
I have a few other cards that I did in this same colour theme - it was really working for me - so I will post those in the next few days too.

Blog Candy #4:
In light of the little teddy bear in the card today - I am giving away an alphabet stamp set that has little bears on each letter, and a couple of adorable little bears too. It is a full alphabet from My Sentiments Exactly.

All you need to do is leave me a comment and let me know if you plan on going out Boxing Day shopping, in light of the fact that Christmas is on Friday - the sales will be in full swing on Saturday - and the discounts will be huge this year (if the pre-holiday sales are any indication!).

You have until Friday to leave a post or send me an e-mail (on any of the postings this week, if not this one) to be entered in the draw. And I think I will post another weekend Blog Candy (It's #5) too - so make sure you drop back in!
Until next time, have a great day!

Santa I can explain - and Blog Candy #2 Winner! And Blog Candy #3

2009-11-20T11:30:00.000-05:00

It's Friday!!! Can't believe how quickly time is whipping by these days - are you feeling the same??
This Post has the winner of Blog Candy #2, a post of Blog Candy #3 (it's a quick one until Monday only!) and a new card too!

First things first:
Blog Candy #2 Winner from THIS post is............Jackie B who sent in her comment via e-mail. She said:
My favorite colour for the season is AQUA. It looks terrific with some greens and is very subtle with white or silver. It reminds me of frozen ponds in the winter and the sky just before sunset.

So Jackie - I will make you a place card holder in your favorite colours for this season and send along with the stamp set. How's that? Congratulations!

Now moving on to Blog Candy #3 - it will be a quick one with the name being drawn on Monday night (and Blog Candy #4 being posted on Monday too!). So make sure you leave me a comment by Monday night on this post or via e-mail and I will draw the name then. What I want to know is: When do you normally put up your Christmas decorations in your home? YES - mine are all up inside and out!!! Makes me smile. Here is Blog Candy #3 - a little stamp set (great for borders!) and a sample card with it - nice and easy:

And now for.........a new card. Dear Santa, I can explain...
Today's card is one of my favourite Sunshine Designs images from a few years ago. It is Whimsey Santa - and I think he is such a great looking Santa!

Materials: CS - (Bazzill); Paper - Accademia (Fabriano); Ink - Versamark (Tsukineko), silver pad, Stamps - Whimsey Santa, Snowflake from Christmas cube (Sunshine Designs, Stamp Barn); Tombow markers, paint brush, adhesive foam tape, silver jump ring, Oval punch (SU!), black belt ring, LIquid Applique (Marvy), Grosgrain ribbon - white (Offray), detail silver embossing powder, Stickles glitter.

I just love the sentiment "Dear Santa, I can explain...." - makes me imagine what my little ones would say if questioned by Santa!

Until next time, have a great day!

North Pole Friends - and Blog Candy REMINDER

2009-11-17T13:32:00.000-05:00

Here is another Christmas Card – this time using Stamp Barn’s House on a Hill image called North Pole Friends – such a cute image.

And just a reminder that I posted Blog Candy #2 yesterday – see below or use the quick link HERE. Leave me your comment and let me know your favourite colour this season.
I will announce the winner on Friday – AND I will post a Blog Candy just for the weekend as well – so make sure you keep popping in here! You can’t lose!!!

Materials: CS - (Bazzill); Paper - Accademia (Fabriano), Patterned Paper Christmas Pad; Ink – Stazon Black (Tsukineko), Stamps – North Pole Friends HOH 033I, CU (Stamp Barn); Tombow markers, paint brush, adhesive foam tape, Sheer ribbon - white (Offray), Photo corner Punch, Oval punches (SU!), white brads (CTMH).

Just wanted to thank Claire – for her comment asking for more Tombow Marker tutorials / colour charts. I will for sure get some more done for the Christmas cards and get them posted for you. How’s that? I do hope everyone else finds them helpful as well.

Until next time - have a great day!

Christmas Placecard Holders – Blog Candy #2

2009-11-16T12:20:00.000-05:00

It’s Monday – so that means Blog Candy! It’s #2 Candy.

Here is a little project made with the Sunshine Designs Christmas Mini cube stamp set. It’s a set of 4 Placecard Holders for your Christmas table. OR – you can put a photo in the clip at the top and use it on your desk too.

Materials: CS - (Bazzill); Paper - Accademia (Fabriano), Patterned Paper Christmas Pad; Ink – Stazon Black (Tsukineko), Stamps – Christmas Mini Cube RSM001 CU, Festive Wishes sentiment from RSW003 CU (Sunshine Designs, Stamp Barn); Tombow markers, paint brush, Large Binder clips (Staples), adhesive foam tape, Sheer dotted ribbon - red (Offray), Circle Punches, Word Window Punch (SU!).

I have also used the stamp set many times to make my own Christmas backgrounds. Lots of uses - so you definitely need this stamp set!
And for today’s Blog Candy – I have this cube Christmas Mini cube in a cling pack version and a mini acrylic block to use the stamps with! AND you get 1 placecard holder with it!! Here’s a picture of the 4 little images you get in the cube:

All you need to do is leave a comment (or send me an e-mail) any day this week before Friday and let me know what your favourite colour is this year for the holidays! I personally love the Kraft colour and red or green (a country Christmas look). That’s what I have chosen for my wrapping paper this year with a little raffia for the bows.
On the comments you leave on the blog - I have had to add in the feature of confirming with a scrambled word - to help to prevent the SPAM that has been adding into the comment lately. You know the ones selling those lifestyle drugs!! Anyway - just a little added step you will have to do, to help to curb the SPAM.

And YES – I have my Christmas lights up – and YES the Christmas tree too! And I am almost done my shoping too! I LOVE IT!
Until next time - have a great day!

Blog Candy #1 - WINNER!

2009-11-13T21:00:00.002-05:00

And the WINNER of Blog Candy #1 is.............

Claire!
Who says she likes winter sceneries or a lamp with a glowing light and fallen snow, a door with a wreath - for the warm and welcoming feeling.

So Claire - send me your snail mail address and the little stamp set and card will be in the mail to you!

And don't forget to drop in again on Monday - for a new card and a new Blog Candy and sample card - it's Blog Candy #2! So another round of chances to win!!

Until next time, have a great day!

Meet Cayla! And a BLOG CANDY REMINDER!

2009-11-11T09:01:00.004-05:00

First off - A REMINDER - make sure you leave a comment on any of the posts letting me know your favourite Christmas stamp (Snowman, Angels, etc.) all this week before Friday night when I will draw for the BLOG CANDY shown HERE. And Blog Candy will go out each week - so keep popping in!

And here is today's project - a little gift bag or purse to hide a little gift for a special little girl. This project used two stamps from the Christmas Enchanted Hollow line from the Stamp Barn: Cayla and Cayla's branch.

Materials: CS - (Bazzill); Paper - Accademia (Fabriano), Patterned Paper Pad; Ink - Versamark (Tsukineko), Stamps - Enchanted Hollow (Stamp Barn); Tombow markers, paint brush, Brown paper lunch bag, adhesive foam tape, Satin ribbon - red (Offray), detail silver embossing powder, Stickles glitter, Velcro adhesive dots.

Cayla is a very sweet little Fairy - perfect for a little girl - she is SO SWEET! The bag flap is held closed with a Velcro adhesive dot, and folds flat for safe keeping. It is just a regular brown paper lunch bag that is cut down to 4" high.

Until next time, have a great day!

Christmas Cards and Blog Candy #1

2009-11-08T20:51:00.007-05:00

As promised, today is the start of the Christmas Card Parade and also the start of the Holiday Blog Candy as well!

Here's the first Christmas Card up on the Parade - let's go shopping!!!

Materials: CS - (Bazzill, CTMH); Paper - Accademia (Fabriano); Ink - Versamark (Tsukineko), Stamps - Sunshine Designs; Tombow markers, paint brush, white tissue paper, Scor-pal, sandpaper, adhesive foam tape, Sheer ribbon - white (Offray), detail gold embossing powder, Stickles glitter.

On this card I popped up the bag with some dimensional tape and then inserted a little tuft of white tissue paper - to make it look like a nicely wrapped gift bag all ready to deliver to someone special! Here's a closer look at that.

And the bow was done using the Bow-Easy - hey, PITA , have you used yours yet???!!!

That thing makes some wonderful looking bows and it's so easy to use too! A real treat for those who are "Bow challenged". Yes, PITA, that's you!

Here's a closer look at the bow.

Now for the Blog Candy!

Every Monday I will post a new Blog Candy for you - and you will have until the Friday of that week to write me a comment or send me an e-mail (PITA, since you don't know how to leave a comment!). I may even sneak in one on the Friday too and give you until Monday to comment - so keep watch!

For the comment I would love to know what your favourite kind of Christmas stamp is - is it a snowman, a Santa, a tree, etc. You get the idea.....

Then, every Friday I will randomly pick a comment - to win the Candy. The Blog Candy will be a little Studio G Holiday stamp set and a "Quick 'N Easy" sample card to show you one way to use the stamps. Anyone can comment, I will ship world-wide.

Here is the Blog Candy #1 - and the sample card for it. Warm and Cozy!

And here is a close up of the little card.

I cut out the card base free-hand is the shape of a little snow globe. I stamped the little snowman twice - once on the base circle and the second on a scrap of paper so I could cut him out and pop him up. A bit of ribbon in a bow, and some Liquid Applique on the brim and pom-pom on the hat and it's done. "Quick 'N Easy"!

Remember to leave a comment or e-mail by Friday and if you are randomly chosen - its yours!

Until next time, have a great day!

Last of the summer cards - promise!

2009-11-05T21:45:00.008-05:00

And then it will be on to the Holiday stuff - my fav! We'll fire up next week with holiday images, and Blog Candy! Let's do Candy on Mondays and Fridays - how does that sound?

For these last ones, I tried to use as many different techniques as possible to do the cards - so that they would appeal to a wide range of crafters - regardless of what they prefer to do on their cards. Some of us like to colour, but others don't - and that is OK! Solid stamps are usually not my first choice (since I do love to colour) but these were a nice change.

Bird on Branch - using an embossed image and sponged background.

To get the Moon, I punched a circle out of a Post-it™ note and stuck it to the cardstock before sponging my background.

Double Swiped background with a solid image.

Just rub your ink pad across your neutral cardstock - making sure you turn the paper 180 degrees between each colour so that you have nice coverage. This uses my absolute 3 favourite colours from CTMH: Breeze, Cocoa and Sweet Leaf!!! Love, love and LOVE those colours!

Poppy Misted.

I coloured my stamp with my watercolour markers then misted it. I re-misted between the stamping - seeing the different effects the water had.

Rock and Roll Pears - an oldie but a goodie technique!

Until next time, have a great day!

More catch up!

2009-11-02T21:41:00.009-05:00

If you have just popped in, make sure you see the first post tonight, right below this one.

Edited to add - just noticed I posted the glitter frames - so here is the link to that post with the colour charts for you to try out yourself!

http://parisestates.blogspot.com/2009/08/tree-for-all-seasons.html

On to more catch up cards from the summer!

Here is a fun make and take gift item - a potted plant! All you need to do is drop a packet of seeds or even a bulb into the little clay pot and you have a fun little gift for someone. This was originally an idea I saw on SplitCoast Stampers - and this is my version of it:

This is done putting watercolour markers direct to the stamp, colouring with the lightest marker first, then randomly layering on a darker shade for accents. A small spritz of the stamp with a fine water mister and then stamp on the paper.

Now for Glitter Frames on a Tree for All Seasons:

Spring
Summer

Fall
Winter (now that's a bit more timely a card!)

These were made with Terrifically Tacky Tape (1/4" wide) all around the border of my watercoloured image. Then I sprinkled Martha Stewart glitter over the tape and pressed down to seat the glitter all around. Quick and easy - and definitely holds there well!

Until next time, have a great day!

Playing catch up from summer??!!

2009-11-02T21:08:00.007-05:00

Well, it certainly has been a while - oooppps! Time certainly has a way of just moving right along! Can't believe it is November already. We went out to a store on November 1st and they already had the Halloween decorations down and the Christmas stuff up! WOW! They can come to my

house anytime they want - that is GOOD!!!

So - for today's post I will just load up a bunch of the card samples I didn't finish loading back in September - all in the efforts to now move on to the HOLIDAYS! I have a ton of Christmas cards to show you already - AND there will be some fun Christmas Blog Candy on it's way over the next few weeks so stay tuned. Some fun little stamps with card samples to go out with them - and there are quite a few of these little packages ready to go out to you! More details will come with the holiday cards.

Here are some of the September cards that I didn't get posted.

Let's start off with the Roly Poly line - makes me smile!

There's Bea (who's a bee!)

There's Cupcake

There's Teacup

There's Sunflower

All of these were done with the watercolour markers (Tombow) and the paint brush. Easy as that!

That's it for this first post - I'll do another tonight and see how far we can get through these.

Thanks for popping back in!

Until next time, have a great day!

A different take on the "Green Bag"

2009-09-13T13:49:00.005-05:00

This card brings a whole new meaning to the words "Green Bag" - and it's my take on the eco-bag!

This card was made using my Coluzzle circle template, making sure 1 edge of the circle was hanging over my folded card edge so that it was not cut (the bottom of the bag). I stamped it with the Birch trunk stamp from Sunshine Designs - from the Stamp Barn. I decorated the front of my "bag" and then punched out the bag handle with my oval punch. That same oval punch made the tab that folds over and closes the bag. To keep that fold over sealed at the front, I used some adhesive Velcro so that the bag actually opens. Such a great idea for a gift card!

And here is all views of the card (bag): closed, open and the Velcro dot closure.
Until next time, have a great day!

Enchanted Hollow cards - ALL OF THEM!

2009-08-24T20:51:00.010-05:00

I thought I would share with you the whole grouping of my Enchanted Hollow cards - these images are designs that are exclusive to Heather's Stamp Haven - sold through the Stamp Barn.

These fairies are so beautiful - and the background Fairy Dust stamp is so versatile, you could use it on anything at all!

Here's Capri. She is "watercoloured" on the back of the vellum, and embossed in silver on the front.

Here's Cara. For this care I dry embossed a corner butterfly image, then chalked the image to highlight the embossing, and cut out the corner shape itself. I also pierced a trail of flight for the little butterfly around Cara.

Here's Crystal. She's done on a stair step card, with the image cut out - outside of the box style. And lots of Stickles glitter of course.

Here's Coral. This is a gate fold card with a dangling sentiment (I love doing those!).

Here's Dewey - the Dragon that takes care of the Fairies! Bazill Bling cardstock sets off his colour really well, and his wing was popped up to add more dimension. I added a ton of Stickles after taking the photo - so he is really very shimmery!

If you love Fairies, then you'll love this line of images - give them a try!

I will post the colour charts for all of these images next - so if you want those, make sure you stop in again and save them for yourself.

Until next time, have a great day!

Roly Poly Birdie

2009-08-23T20:40:00.003-05:00

Today's card is another Sunshine Designs Roly Poly image - this one is the bird and the card base is my favourite birdhouse template! I punched a hole and threaded some embroidery thread through at the top - so that it can hang like an ornament.

Here's the card:

And here's the colour chart to watercolour it if you want to give it a try too, using water soluble markers of course (I use Tombow markers)!

The flowers on the birdhouse roof and also watercoloured right on the Bazill cardstock - don't forget you can do that with the markers too!

Until next time, have a great day!

Swing Top Card

2009-08-18T21:08:00.004-05:00

Oh Happy Day!
Here's a cute little swing top card using the Sunshine Designs stamps again from Stamp Barn.

And here's the colour chart for this little guy too!

To make the card "swing" part, just use a brad as the hinge, making sure you don't glue down the top part but do glue down the bottom part. If you use a light colour base for the card - you can write your message on the inside under the top swinging part.
Cute!
Until next time, have a great day!

Froggy Friday

2009-08-13T19:36:00.004-05:00

It's a Froggy Friday!

My Mum loves the Turtle Tuesdays I have done in the past, but has always bugged me to do a Froggy Friday - so this one is for her!

AND - if you love this image - HERE is a link to Danielle's blog where she has this stamp as Blog Candy from The Stamp Barn. Make sure you leave a comment on as soon as you can, as she is drawing for it on Friday evening.

I had a bit of fun with this card - adding in some thin strips of cardstock in 2 different colours of green - to look like grass. I also bent some of the strands to give it some depth. I attached the strips with Terrifically Tacky Tape at the bottom and covered the openly sticky parts with shiny green seed and tube beads.
And here is the colour chart for the frog - give him a try! He is just 1 of the many Roly Poly images in this Sunshine Designs line of stamps - and they are all very fun to work with and colour!
Remember to put a comment on Danielle's blog for a chance to win!

Until next time, have a great day!
Pam

Strawberries! Yum!

2009-08-12T20:06:00.004-05:00

Here's a cute little card with strawberries on it - and a cute little paper strawberry - it's so easy.
I do love strawberries and I made some great freezer jam with the kids this summer after the local strawberry festival!

HERE is a great link to the template you can download and a complete tutorial on how to make it with complete details, so you too can make this oh-so-cute paper strawberry. It doesn't take much paper at all, so you can use up your patterned paper scraps this way.

And here is the colour chart to colour the image.

Until next time, have a great day!!!

Inky Antics Relaunch of the clear stamp cling sets

2009-08-11T21:12:00.003-05:00

Sorry - I forgot about 1 more thing.
I have an e-mail from one of my blog visitors looking for the turtle stamp that I used on this POST.

When I went over to the Inky Antics site, all of their awesome turtle clear sets had been removed from the site. The reason is that they have now re-launched their clear sets and the turtles are now back! So anyone wanting to see the Inky Antics new release for the fall, and the re-launch of their turtle stamp sets - HERE is the link to the page with the Fall/Winter release.
Love those new coffee stamps, and the Triangle Treat box and co-ordinating stamps!

And did I mention that I have so oh-so-cute new turtles from Stampin' Bella? :)
Enjoy!

A tree for all seasons

2009-08-11T20:50:00.007-05:00

Start of the card parade:

Here is a cute set of cards using the Sunshine Designs cube All Seasons Tree RS006 CU (lg) from The Stamp Barn. I used the exact same layout for each card and changed up the Cuttlebug embossing folder for the background on each, the sheer ribbon colour and the colour of glitter frame.

Winter:

Fall:

Summer:

Spring:

And here is the colour chart for all 4 trees if you want it. Simply Right Clink on the image and save it to your computer. When you want to use it - print it the full size of a letter piece of paper and you are good to go.

To make the glitter frames, you use 1/4" wide Terrifically Tacky Tape and run around all edges of the stamped image paper piece. Peel off the red protective tape and then sprinkle the glitter that you want over all of the tape. Simply tap off the excess and you are done!

A great way to store the glitter that you use frequently is to put it in Rubbermaid container with an airtight lid and use a plastic spoon to scoop the glitter over it. When you tap off the excess - it goes right back into the container, throw the spoon in and seal it up for another day. Nice and Easy! For these, I used the Martha Stewart fine glitter - it comes in a great range of colours and is very nice to use.

Until next time - have a great day!

Ready to roll and a new look

2009-07-21T18:34:00.013-05:00

Welcome back!

Well - we are all settled into the new house (although are you ever really unpacked???) and the construction on my new craft studio is now complete as well - thanks DH. Well, almost complete, just a bit of organizing and fine tuning to do still, but it is ready to welcome crafters this weekend!!! Can't wait for Friday night!

I have a TON of new cards made to share with you along with the colour charts for all of the images of course, all for this season's Sunshine Designs line as well as the Enchanted Hollow line - all from The Stamp Barn. The Stamp Barn will post them on their card samples page as well in the very near future - and you can check out some other wonderful cards there too - take a peak!

I thought I would start the ball rolling again by showing you the construction of the new craft space! I love it! You better go and get a coffee - there are a TON of photos!

Construction began shortly after we moved in - so that meant we had to repack the stuff in the basement for it to happen (we had the whole basement finished off - and set aside a great space for me and my stash!).

Once the walls were in and painted in builders white - I could paint with my favourite colour - HAZE. Such a calming colour.

A then a bit of inspiration was called for - in the form of wall decor!!! Love these decor elements from SU! I'll show you the step by step application!

And here is tree part complete.

Then for some inspirational words - here's me removing my pencil marks with an eraser.

And then for the finished inspirational wall - I love it!!!

Then the counter counter arrived for DH to install for me, along with some wall units for storage.

And then the top cupboards for storage of all that stuff that follows me home - does that happen to you too?

After all that was done DH put up some great racks I found at IKEA to hold all my punches on the wall so they are easily accessible (and sadly I already need another one - so off I go on Saturday!).

I will share the completed photos next time - with my group table and all of my "stuff" moved in.

The set-up seems to be working very well for me - and it got a great jump start with the making of al those sample cards for The Stamp Barn - how fun is that??!!

Glad to be back up and running - and I have lots to share with you over the next while, so keep checking back.

Until next time, have a great day!

WOW- it's been a long while

2009-02-07T21:07:00.006-05:00

HI!
I'm dropping back in today SURPRISE - after a huge time away - sorry about that!
We are all moved and working on getting settled into the new house (which is fantastic by the way!) but it will take some time to get all my supplies back out of hiding in the packing boxes - but we'll get there!

In the mean time - just wanted to let you know that Sunshine Designs released their Spring 2009 new line-up yesterday and if you're a fan - you'll want to place your order. There are some surprises too - Solid Stamps! But don't worry - you can still watercolour using solid stamps, did you know that? I'll get some samples posted for you to see for yourself!
And make sure you also check out the Stamp Barn new releases, as Krista has also designed a number for them too - LOVE the Enchanted Hallow fairies (I had a little girl that will love these!).
Here is the link to the Stamp Barn new stamp page - HERE

They seem to be having some difficulty with the images. If they are still not showing, drop me an e-mail and I will send a note back with the pdfs of the new lines.

And - since we are talking about new stamps, check out the new Spring release from Inky Antics HERE
I love the Worldy Women - and really laughed over some of these new ones.
(40-something, Cook with wine, Have a donut - to name a few!) AND there is a new turtle!!! Tallulah will have to find a home in my collection of turtles!

Hope you are all weathering the winter and frantic weather lately. Stay warm and dry!

Wreath Fence

2008-11-11T20:32:00.004-05:00

Hi! A big hello to all of A Scrapbooker's Dream ladies, especially those who were at Krista's watercolouring class this past weekend - welcome to the blog! Elizabeth added a link to my blog on her store blog - so welcome!

Here’s another Holiday card from the new line from Sunshine Designs – but the garden gate image can really be used as an all-season piece I think. Try overlaying this on top of some floral images - would look great! Or try acetate even!
Hope you like!

Wreath Fence:
Card dimensions – A2

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper – Accademia (Fabrianno); Ink – Black StazOn, Versamark (Tsukineko); Stamp – Wreath Fence SD053 H, Winter Birds RS043 CU (Sunshine Designs available at The Stamp Barn); detail gold embossing powder, Tombow markers, water brush, burgundy organza ribbon (Offray), Coluzzle cutting mat, swivel knife and nested circle template (Provo Craft).

Here is the colour chart for the image.

Enjoy!
Until next time, have a great day!

Snowman Snow Globe

2008-11-04T20:06:00.002-05:00

I love Snow Globes – and Snowmen – so this combination is a winner for me!
There are a lot of things you could do with this stamp – use acetate sheets and make it a shaker card (with or without foam tape for spacers), insert your own image in the snowglobe to mix it up a bit (just mask out the snowmen when you stamp), a gel card to imitate water inside, etc. See what you can come up with.

Snowman Snowglobe:
Card dimensions – 5” square

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper – Accademia (Fabrianno); Ink – Versamark (Tsukineko); Stamp – Snowman Snowglobe SD052 J, Christmas mini cube, Christmas Word cube (Sunshine Designs available at The Stamp Barn); foam tape, detail silver embossing powder, Tombow markers, water brush, Sakura glitter pens, silver metallic ribbon (Offray).

Here is the colour chart for this one too.
Enjoy!
Until next time, have a great day!

Trying a new look

2008-10-28T21:52:00.001-05:00

Just testing out some new looks and a new blog banner - any thoughts on it?
Pam

Floating Dots Flowers

2008-10-26T17:20:00.004-05:00

Here’s a very Spring-like card – to go with the very Winter-like weather today! WOW – it’s getting cold!

To make this card, once the image was coloured, I covered the main image in an Adhesive sheet, peeled off the paper and cover the adhesive sheet with loose glitter (fine glitter though). Shake off the excess and you have a completely shimmery image. Nice effect.

Floating Dots Flowers:
Card dimensions – 5" square

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper – Accademia (Fabrianno); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamp – Floating Dots Flowers SD061 E (Sunshine Designs available at The Stamp Barn); foam tape, Tombow markers, water brush, green organza ribbon (Offray), Adhesive Sheets (CTMH), Dazzling Diamonds glitter (SU!)

Here is the colour charts – so easy!

Enjoy!
Until next time, have a great day!

Christmas Ornament - Packages

2008-10-23T19:32:00.003-05:00

Here’s fun way to make cards – turn them in to Christmas Ornaments! I cut 2 large circles using my Coluzzle, and then hinged them with a tab made with the tab punch from Stampin' Up!

Lots of fun - and I even got out the air brush tool (also from Stampin' Up!) - that's always fun!

Package Stack:

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper – Accademia (Fabrianno), Gold metallic (Stamp Barn); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamp – Packages Stack SD056 H, (Sunshine Designs available at The Stamp Barn); Tombow markers, water brush, Sakura glitter pens, Coluzzle cutting system and circle template, Tab Punch (SU!), 1/4" hole punch (Staples), Air brush system (SU!), cream organza ribbon (Offray).

Here is the colour chart for you.
Enjoy!
Until next time, have a great day!

City Scene – Country Scene

2008-10-20T19:10:00.005-05:00

I was at the CSNF on Friday with a few friends EM, JB and CS – and had a lot of fun! Did you go??
I was happy to see a lot of my card samples at the Heather’s Stamp Haven booth – that’s always nice! And I bought some great new stamps and templates for future use.
Today you get two cards – a city version and a country version – which are YOU??!!

Winter Cityscape:
Card dimensions – A2

Christmas House:
Card dimensions – A2

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper – Accademia (Fabrianno); Ink – Timber Brown StazOn, Versamark (Tsukineko); Stamp – Winter Cityscape SD049 M, Christmas House SD060J, Christmas mini cube (Sunshine Designs available at The Stamp Barn); foam tape, detail silver embossing powder, Tombow markers, water brush, Sakura glitter pens, Stickles (icicle).

Here are the colour charts for the two images:

Enjoy!
Until next time, have a great day!

Those Patio Lanterns!

2008-10-15T19:36:00.003-05:00

Yes – you can sing the song – if you remember it!!!!! And you are Canadian!
Not quite a Christmas image – but perhaps a Chinese New Year one? Regardless – who doesn’t love those beautiful paper lanterns!!!

Paper Lanterns:
Card dimensions – 5 ½” x 3 ½”

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper – Accademia (Fabrianno); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamp – Paper Lanterns SD065 E, Swirl SD042 G (Sunshine Designs available at The Stamp Barn); amber grosgrain ribbon (ribbon share TexasJodiLynn), foam tape, Tombow markers, water brush, Sakura glitter pens.

You can’t tell from the photo – but I stamped the image twice – 1 for the main piece that is matted, and the second to cut our each lantern from and pop it up on top of the original – adds great dimension when you do that. Don’t forget to make your lanterns shine with Sakura glitter pens carefully blended on top after you colour. Makes them look like they are shining (it didn’t show well on the photo though)

And here is the colour chart for the paper!

Enjoy!
Until next time, have a great day!

Hanging Skates

2008-10-14T20:30:00.004-05:00

I love the simple elegance of this Christmas card – and this image. So pretty! Use your Sakura glitter pen (the silver one) to make the blades of the skates shine – for a more realistic look. I also distressed the outer edges of the card front with my Ivy Green ink from CTMH to tie it all together.

Hanging Skates:
Card dimensions – A2

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper – Accademia (Fabrianno); Ink – Versamark (Tsukineko), Ivy Green (CTMH); Stamp – Hanging Skates SD055 H (Sunshine Designs available at The Stamp Barn); gold detail embossing powder (The Stamp Barn), organza ribbon (Offray), foam tape, Tombow markers, water brush, Sakura glitter pens.

And here is the colour chart for the image.
Enjoy!
Until next time, have a great day!

For You! Jodi!

2008-10-13T19:56:00.007-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

This card is for Jodi, in London - using another one of the images that she sent to me to try for her.

Jodi checked and the Inuksuk stamp is from Rosewood - HERE is a link to their website - Frog's Whiskers Ink - in their nature group of stamps - B323.

I have a thing for the Inuksuk as well as fall leaves!

A long time ago, I worked on designing a set of health pamphlets for the Company I work for - and the series was designed with different Inuksuit on the covers. Very Canadian, and very representative of people! I loved that set of pamphlets!

Just a bit of info for those interested....

The Inuksuk (plural = Inuksuit) is a construction of rocks configured to resemble the human form - and literally means "pretend person". Originating from the Inuit in the Arctic - the Inuksuk was a sign to travellers that another human being had been there before, and survived. They really have 5 main reasons for being built:

1) to show the way

2) to warn of dangerous places

3) to show where food caches are located

4) to show where something significant happened (and to be respectful)

5) to help hunt for caribou

As well, there are very distinctive shapes for each of these reasons, although each is unique because it was built with the stones that were on hand in that spot at the time. All very interesting, to me anyway! I even built one in my garden - it was great!

So, since I love the fall leaves so much - I had to photograph the card outside in the beautiful seasonal colours.

Inuksuk:

Card dimensions A2

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper – Accademia (Fabrianno); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko), black (CTMH); Stamp – Inuksuk B323 (Rosewood), sentiment (Inky Antics); foam tape, Tombow markers, water brush.

And here is the colour charts for this stamp - very easy, only 4 colours involved.

Sentiment, in case you can't see it, simply ready "for you!"

Until next time, have a great day!

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-10-12T20:18:00.003-05:00

Here's another photo from our adventures outside today - what a beautiful day it was! I seem to be fixated on the leaves! Hope you had a chance to get out and enjoy the weather too.

We had our Thanksgiving dinner this afternoon with family and a close friend - so wishing all of you a Happy Thanksgiving too!

Mittens

2008-10-09T19:01:00.004-05:00

Another Christmas-like image on this card – I love this one (probably one of my favorites!) But I have a ‘thing’ for mittens!
This upcoming weekend is a long one – for the Canadian Thanksgiving! I love this time of year, the fall colours, the great smells in the kitchen and of course – the TURKEY!!!
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! The weather is suppose to be fantastic – so get out and enjoy it while it lasts (my van is in getting it’s snow tires on – yes I did say that S word - SNOW!)

Mittens on Branch:
Card dimensions – A2
Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper – Accademia (Fabrianno); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamp – Mittens on Branch SD051 G, Christmas mini cube RSM001 CU (Sunshine Designs available at The Stamp Barn); foam tape, Tombow markers, water brush, Sakura glitter pens.

To make the mitten border on the bottom – I used the Christmas mini cube and started stamping in the middle of the border. I then rotated the cube 45 degrees each time I re-stamped it so that the mitten rotates along the border.

Here is the colour chart for the main mitten image – as well as the little mitten – so cute!
Enjoy!
Until next time, have a great day!

CSNF and the Polar Bear Collection

2008-10-08T19:06:00.008-05:00

First thing - I wanted to remind everyone that the CreativFestival in Toronto is coming up very quickly! I can’t wait! Oct 17, 18, 19 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
HERE is the link to the Creativ site for you to see all the vendors that will be there. My favorite booth is always the Heather’s Stamp Haven booth – all the new Sunshine Designs, and even Heather’s own store images are always a MUST SEE! Booth #185.
My buddies and I will be checking the place out on the 17th - if you see us, make sure you say HI!

Polar Bear Collection:
Card dimensions – A2

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper – Accademia (Fabrianno); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamp – Polar Bear Collection RS057 CU (lg) , mini Christmas cube RSM001 CU(Sunshine Designs available at The Stamp Barn); Ribbon – red satin (Offray), foam tape, Tombow markers, water brush, Sakura glitter pens, Stickles glitter glue (Icicle), Cuttlebug & snowflake embossing folder.

These little bears are very easy to colour and a lot of fun to work with. And they are also Jodi from London’s favorite set too! A big HI! To Jodi!

This set also goes really well for those who like to add lots of glitter to their cards - since there is a lot of snow and cold-looking scenes here - the glitter really adds a nice wintry look.

Here are the colour charts for these little guys – so you can do them yourself. Remember you can right click and save to your computer - then drop it into word and make it fill the whole page so the numbers are legible.

Enjoy!
Until next time, have a great day!

Colour charts for recent cards

2008-10-07T21:36:00.009-05:00

For this post - I am going to give you all of my colour charts for the Sunshine Design images that I have used in the cards so far - from this latest release. And then going forward I will post the colour chart with the card each day - so that you can reproduce the same look or get some ideas of colours you like to combine.

And as a reminder - you can get all of these Sunshine Designs stamps at The Stamp Barn. They have all of these card samples on their site as well - along with many, many more! Definitely worth looking through their collection of card samples!

Here we go! If you want to save them to your computer, simply right click and "save picture as". Then you can drop that picture into any Word document and enlarge to the size you wish - in order to see the numbering. Let me know if you have any questions at all!

Dotty Flowers Set

Stacked Cups

Christmas Moon

Girl on skates

Christmas Candles

Three Elves

Tree and Moon

That's it for today - hope these help you!

Until next time, have a great day!

Fall weekend photos and a new card too!

2008-10-05T19:33:00.006-05:00

What a whirl-wind weekend we have had - all in preparation for moving out of this house, and moving in to our new house! Who knew there was SO MUCH to do!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway - we did take a bit of a break from the craziness to get out and enjoy some of the fall colours (is it me or are the colours a bit flat this year?). So before I show you today's card, here are some of the moments and images captured. You've got to love fall in Ontario!

Walking Away:

Maple Leaf:

Back-lit tree:

And now for today's card - back to the winter/Christmas images! You know how I love cards that move or have interesting folds - and this one has both!

Girl on Skates:
Card dimensions – A2
Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper – Accademia (Fabrianno); Ink – Versamark (Tsukineko); Stamp – Girl on Skates SD059 M (Sunshine Designs); Punches - 1/4" hole punch, corner rounder (Fiskars), Ribbon – blue/green organza (Offray), detail silver embossing powder (Stamp Barn), Tombow markers, water brush, Sakura glitter pens, Liquid Applique, X-acto knife and cutting mat.

HERE is the link to SplitCoast for the complete tutorial on how to make a free-standing pop-up card – it's actually quite easy when you get in to it.

I added Liquid Applique to the "fur" trim on the girl's outerwear - and yes, JB, you do have Liquid Applique in your stash!!! Once the liquid applique dries completely - use your heat gun to puff it up, and it looks just like fur trim, or snow even. Just remember to make the slot in the card base wide enough to accommodate the extra thickness of the standing card piece if you use the Liquid Applique - it does add some depth to the thickness - so just be warned.

Enjoy!
Until next time, have a great day!

Quartet of Flowers

2008-10-03T20:04:00.007-05:00

To get you through the weekend - here is a set of 4 cards that are definitely NOT Christmas themed - but I think the flower images are perfectly lovely! Might help warm up the cold weather that we are having!

Quartet of Flowers Note Cards:
Card dimensions – A2 – 4 ½” x 5 ½”
#1 - Warm Wishes

#2 - Friendship

#3 - You're So Sweet

#4 - You Make Me Smile

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper – Accademia (Fabrianno); Ink – Versamark (Tsukineko); Stamp – Dotty Flowers Set RS058CU (lg) (Sunshine Designs); Ribbon – cream organza (Offray), detail gold embossing powder, foam tape, Tombow markers, water brush, Sakura glitter pens.

I love these flowers – all four of them actually. This set would make a nice hostess gift of a “just because” gift for someone special.

Enjoy!
Until next time, have a great day!

Tree & Moon

2008-10-01T19:58:00.002-05:00

Another card with the latest Sunshine Designs images!
Here’s a very versatile image – can be wintery, Christmas-y, haunted, sunset like or really anything you want!

Winter Tree and Moon:
Card dimensions – A2 - 4 ¼” x 5 ½”

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper – Accademia (Fabrianno); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamp – Tree and Moon SD050 J (Sunshine Designs); Ribbon – navy organza (Offray), Tombow markers, water brush, Sakura glitter pens, Cuttlebug & embossing folder.

The base card is embossed with a wood texture using my Cuttlebug - adds nice texture, but is hard to see in the photo!

Enjoy!
Until next time, have a great day!

Star Shaped Card

2008-09-30T19:17:00.005-05:00

Today’s Christmas card is a fun one – and the shape will lend itself to any smaller stamp image.
HERE is a link to the star template that I used. To make the card base, I cut out 2 star shapes and then scored one of the roughly 1" down 1 of the points of the star. I glued that piece to the back of the start front piece - so that is opened like a regular card with a top fold - hope that makes sense! Once I made the star card base, I then took off ¼” on all edges of the template and cut out the watercolour paper to make the smaller inner star with the main image.

Star shaped Christmas Moon:
Card dimensions – 5” across
Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper – Accademia (Fabrianno); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamp – Christmas Moon SD058 F (Sunshine Designs); Ribbon – cream organza (Offray), foam tape, Tombow markers, water brush, Sakura glitter pens.

A nice and easy – yet different card – give it a try! For added dimension - I stamped a second moon image and watercoloured it, then popped it up with foam tape on top of the original image.
And I noticed that Stampin’ Up has a neat star-shaped card in their Holiday mini-catalogue too – so very trendy!

Enjoy!
Until next time, have a great day!

Three Elves

2008-09-29T19:04:00.003-05:00

Here’s the first of many Christmas cards using the new Sunshine Designs line for this Fall/Winter.
JB – this is your favorite stamp from this group isn’t it – remind you of any 3 little girls in particular???!!!

Three Elves:
Card dimensions – 6” square
Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper – Accademia (Fabrianno); Ink – Timber Brown StazOn, VersaMark (Tsukineko); Stamps – Three Elves SD054 M (Sunshine Designs); Ribbon – green organza (Offray), detail gold embossing powder (Stamp Barn), foam tape, Tombow markers, water brush, Sakura glitter pens.

Very basic layout – just remember to add a bit of distressing to your cardstock mats with the quick wipe using your ink pad. In this case it was Timber Brown StazOn.

Images like this are easier to paint when they are embossed – so I did this one in gold. The middle little girl is cut out from a second stamping and popped up to add dimension (don’t think you can see this from the photo).

Enjoy!
Until next time, have a great day!

Ketchup

2008-09-28T20:16:00.006-05:00

When shaking ketchup from a bottle,

First none will come, and then a lot'll.

You're probably wondering where I am going with this...... well, I am officially just like ketchup. Missing In Action for over a month - but I am back with over 30 different cards to show you - for the upcoming holiday season (is it too early to start up the Christmas countdown - what do you think MN?) and other themes too. So definitely stay tuned.

First things first - do you remember THIS post?

Well, I sent this card on to Stampotique electronically with the instructions and they have now posted in on their Company blog with THIS post. They are also listing the complete instructions on how to make the card too if you are interested. And here is the colour chart for you.

Carol from Stampotique thanked me by sending me the Cabbage Rose stamp - and it arrived last week - HERE is a link to what she looks like - isn't she cute too? I'll show you what I come up with when it is finished.

Let's start off the parade of new cards with this one - it isn't a Christmas image and for some reason I started with those first - not sure what that means!!!!

Tea Cups:
Card dimensions – A2 - 4 1/4" x 5 ½”

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper – Accademia (Fabrianno); Ink – Black StazOn (Tsukineko); Stamps – Stacked Cups SD063 C (Sunshine Designs); Punches - Giga scalloped circle and Mega circle (Marvy); Ribbon – green organza(Offray), paper piercer & mat, decorative scissors (Fiskars), foam tape, Tombow markers, water brush, Sakura glitter pens (green, pink).

Tomorrow - I'll do a Christmas card - so here's a sneak peak:

Until next time, have a great day!

Pumpkins for Jodi

2008-08-24T20:30:00.006-05:00

ETA - Jodi sent me the stamp information for me to share so I have added it in the supply list below. Thanks Jodi!
This card is for Jodi in London, who sent me a few images to see what I could do for suggested colouring. So here is the first one – a great pumpkin image!
Jodi – can you send me a note and let me know the company that makes this stamp in case anyone wants to search it out? Send me a note, please!
Pumpkin Border #N26 - from Stamps by Judith. HERE is a link to the site.

Pumpkin Border:
Card dimensions – 6” x 3 ½”

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper – Accademia (Fabrianno); Ink – VersaMark (Tsukineko); Stamps – Pumpkin Border (Stamps by Judith), Swirl (Sunshine Designs); Ribbon – orange grosgrain (Offray), silicone, foam tape, Tombow markers, water brush, ¼” hole punch (Staples).

To make this card – cut green cardstock to 12” x 3 ½” and score at 6” and 6 5/8” along the long edge. Fold on the 6” score line. Punch 2, ¼” hole in the card spine and thread orange ribbon through to the front and tie in a bow. Using VersaMark ink, randomly stamp the swirl design all over the card front. Stamp the 5 pumpkins image twice on watercolour paper – using 1 as the main, base image and the other to cut out the 3 pumpkins in the forefront. Colour as in the colour chart, and mount the 3 cut-out pumpkins to the main image using silicone (I like to use silicone because you can “round” the image around the silicone ball for added depth). Mat the coloured image on black cardstock and then adhere matted image to the card front with foam tape.
Tombow colours used: 098, 177, 837, 905, 946, 977, 969.
Here is the colour chart for this image:

Enjoy!
Until next time, have a great day!

Coneflower

2008-08-14T19:43:00.006-05:00

Today's card is done using one of my favourite stamps from Artful Stamper (bought through the Stamp Shack where I was teaching this past weekend - HI! to my Michigan ladies!). I love the coneflower - and it can be coloured in a purple scheme to be like the Echinacea plant, or in a yellow scheme to be like the Black-Eyed Susan. Either way - it would look great!

Coneflower:
Card dimensions – 3 ½” x 8 ½”

Materials: CS – (Bazzill); Paper – Accademia (Fabrianno); Ink – Stazon Black (Tsukineko); Stamps – Coneflower (Artful Stamper), Warm Wishes from Word cube RSW015 CU (lg) (Sunshine Designs); Ribbon - Cream organza (Offray), foam tape, Tombow markers, water brush, Dimensional Glaze (Ranger), Clear micro beads.

If any of you are interested in making this card – and colouring it the way I have done – I am going to give you the colour chart I made up for the stamp, below. It is done using Tombow markers – and I have indicated the colour numbers used with a line to the area I used it in. Just right click on the picture below and save it to your files for printing off when you want to try it yourself. Enjoy!

I used the clear micro beads to add a textured effect to the flower centre - so that it looked more realistic. I love that effect for the centres - looks and feels neat.

Until next time, have a great day!

NEW! Sunshine Designs fall stamps released

2008-08-06T22:21:00.004-05:00

HI!!!!!
I just wanted to let you know that the new line of Sunshine Designs stamps has just been released.
HERE is the link to them - aren't they cute??? Love those Christmas designs Krista!

And on a personal note - sorry I haven't been posting lately. But here is the reason why, below. This is what we have been up to lately, getting our house ready to sell, going through the viewings and then SOLD! YEAH!!!

This is a shot of DS and DD with our 2 agents changing over the sign to say SOLD! DD loves to wear her Cinderella ball gown - complete with fairy wand. What can I say.......

We are moving on to a brand new home in the same town. This place is SOLD and our brand new home will be ready in January, 2009! We will be in a temporary location for December and January, but it will be worth it - for the new house. Lots more space! We can't wait.

Saturday I am in London teaching Intro and Advanced watercolouring, and I am really looking forward to the creative time. And what a store to teach in - so many different stamps! I am bringing along 2 friends from the area as well - and I'm looking forward to spending time with them too.

Until next time (hope it won't be so long), have a great day!

Sunshine Designs stamps online

2008-06-27T10:47:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to let you know that the Stamp Barn now has all the new Sunshine Designs stamps on-line for you to see the new images. Enjoy!!!
HERE is the link for you to see them all.

And thanks Karen for the info as well. Yes - Heather's Stamp Haven was the very first store to get these stamps, as the Stamp Barn worked to release them so they would be in stock for Krista's big weekend of teaching there! Lucky Heather's Stamp Haven customers!!!

Until next time - have a great day!

Question - Answered

2008-06-25T20:07:00.002-05:00

A big hello to Carolyn from the "Wick"!
Just wanted to answer your question:
So glad you like these new stamps! Unfortunately the Stamp Barn has not had a chance to get them loaded to their site as yet. This line has just come out. There are even more fantastic ones too - sorry to help you spend your money!
Here is what is out:

RS050 CU - Buggy Friends Cube (this is there the 2 ladybug images and the snail came from)
RS052 CU - Party Animals (this is where the images for the Viewmaster card came from)
RS055 CU - Party Hats (this was used for the background of the Viewmaster card)
RS053 CU - Word Play
RS051 CU - Christmas Berries
RS054 CU - Pretty Things (this is where the flower image on the Suspension card came from)
SD043R - Floral Mailbox
SD044 G - Kite with Bows (this was used for the Tilt card)
SD048 H - Kitty in Flowers (this was used on the Intro class sample)
SD045 G - Vase Flowers
SD046 E - Striped Mistletoe
SD047 G - Patterned Pear

I'll check for you to see when they expect to have them on their site - and post as soon as I hear. Hope that helps!
Until next time, have a great day!

London Watercolouring with Markers classes

2008-06-22T22:08:00.010-05:00

Sorry it's been so long!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I have been busy making cards! Take a look...

Here are some more classes that I am teaching - for any of you who are interested, and might be in the area.

These classes are Watercolouring with Markers - Introduction and Advanced classes.

Where:

The Stamp Shack Canada

Galleria Mall

355 Wellington St.

London, Ontario N6A 3N7

Phone: 519-673-1823

Website: www.stampshackcanada.com

When: Saturday, August 9th. Intro class 10am-12pm, Advanced class 1pm-3pm

For registration - please contact The Stamp Shack directly.

And here are the samples of the cards for each of these classes. They are all using the brand new line of beautiful Sunshine Designs stamps - from the Stamp Barn, as well as 2 of the new Artful Stamper stamps.

Introduction Class - Instruction on technique, exercises, practice and 3 cards.

Advanced Cards That Move - complete instructions, dimensions or templates for each card (Tilt card, Suspension card, Surprise Message card, Viewmaster card).

TILT CARD
SUSPENSION CARD

SURPRISE MESSAGE CARD
VIEWMASTER CARD

Hope to see you there, if you can make it!

Until next time, have a great day!