Special delivery

Today I've got another baby card for you using the Bildmalarna Baby image from Paper Jewels.  You've seen a handful of these over the past few months, it seems so many folks are expecting or having little ones, and I do enjoy making cards for them.

The image is coloured with Copics, and I sponged some ink on the edges for depth.  DP from Micheals, and the coordinations paper is embossed and sanded.  Dug out my sewing machine on this one, seems to me that baby cards need to have sewing on them, LOL!  Also used my bow easy on the bow, sure do love that little tool!

Have a wonderful weekend, I hope you have time for some crafting and creativity :-)

Christmas wishes

So yesterday, as I languished at home with a cold, a really neat thing happened....I got my 100th blog follower!  A crafter from South Africa, the other side of the world!  I was so excited!!

Today I have a card I made on the weekend when I was feeling inspired (did I mention I made close to 10 cards last weekend!) and before the cold bug hit.  This card is a Christmas theme using the Mimosa Christmas Tree image from the Paper Jewels store.

Isn't she cute?!  She's coloured with Copics, and spica pens for the tree ornaments.  The green base is coordinations paper that's been embossed with a cuttlebug folder and sanded.

So would it be of value to you if I went into more detail about the colouring techniques etc. in my posts?  If there are things you'd like more details, please let me know, I want to make sure I get the right amount of information in here to keep you all happy but not bored :-)

Friday's is here, and I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Fall days

I got some fabulous fresh apples from the farmers market the other day, and have been baking away with them since, and when I went to create today I decided to use this sweet Bildmalarna image I got from the Paper Jewels store, called Mimosa Apple Basket.

The background is made using a Sizzix embossing folder fro SU--after embossing it I sponged Vanilla craft ink overtop of it to make the pattern stand out more.  I added some stitching and distressing around the main image, which as usual was coloured with Copics, and made the bow with my still relatively new Bow-Easy (had to watch the video again on how to use it, must need to make more of them).

I hope you all have wonderful plans for the weekend!  I've been procrastinating on my coursework, what with my driving lessons, card making, and baking, so will have to spend some time on that, but will definitely be finding time for a bit more creativity in my craft room too :-)

Summer gardening

Wow, this is only my fourth post in August!  As you can tell, I've been distracted by summertime fun and haven't been spending too much time in my craft room.

My garden is suffering from lack of weeding--obviously that's not where I've been spending my time either, and working on this card made me feel a tad guilty LOL!

This little cutie is a Bildmalarna image available at Paper Jewels, called Tossa Garden.  I coloured her up with copics, and then did some stitching on the edges of the main image and dressed it up.  

The background that looks like lace is made using a CHF background stamp in brown stamped onto the beige cardstock.  The green bow is embroidery thread.

Still got a ton of new stamps that I got recently that haven't seen ink, but I think you'll all have to wait till September to see them used, I'm going to take it easy through these last few weeks of Summer and enjoy the sunshine while we have it.

Hope you are all doing well, love seeing your comments and would also be interested in hearing what is keeping you motivated crafting at this time of the year too (or alternatively, what is distracting you...).

Weathered lovely day

Hi folks,

Today's card is one of my favorite Bildmalarna images, called Lovely Day.

As I've made a few cards now with this same image I felt challenged to do something different with it, so decided to go with a weathered, shabby chic style.

After colouring the image I decided I wanted it to look weathered, so tried an experiment.  I took my SU Weathered background stamp and sprayed it with Tattered Angels Glimmer mist, and then stamped over top of the coloured image, and then heat set--it looks really neat in real life!

I've used bronze finger paint from the Gina K store to decorate the border of the main image.

The pearls on the left are fancy ribbon from the fabric store--the most expensive stuff I've bought to date at five bucks a yard--eek!  but I thought it looked just right so had to use a little bit here.

Hope you are all having a great week!

Vintage Baby

For the third Tuesday in a row I'm happy to share with you another Baby card, using the Bildmalarna Baby image I got from Paper Jewels.

This card incorporated a "fancy border", which I think really dressed it up.  The Paper Jewels Blog has a challenge on right now to make a card with a fancy border, with one lucky participant to win a prize.  I hope you'll play along with us.

This is a special baby card, made for a friend of mine to celebrate her new baby.

For this card I went with a vintage style and a square card.  The image is coloured with copics, and I used the pen tip to pen tip technique for a lot of the colouring around the baby and basket, as well as the rabbit, since I find it is a nice blending technique on light colours.

The background is made using co-ordinations paper, run through the cuttlebug, then sanded, then I used my airbrush and copic E70 to add a bit of darkness to the edges.  Finally, went to the sewing machine and added some stitching to it, then added the safety pin.

Since this is a special card, hopefully a keepsake for the little one, I also decorated the inside, using DP, stitching, and a digi sentiment from Raindrop Echo Designs:

Girly baby

Tuesday's rolled around again and I'm pleased to get a chance to share with you another Baby card.  Last week I used this image, Baby, by Bildmalarna, to make a boy card.  This week it's a girly version :-)

As usual, the image is coloured with copics.  I made a big oopsie when trying to stamp a word in the banner area (which you can't see, but that black "shelf" is actually supposed to be a banner).  But the good thing about cardmaking is most things are fixable (and is that also a truth about life too LOL!).  So I coloured in the banner and turned it into a table.

Added some lace, pearls and a button, and Voila!

I hope this gives you some inspiration, especially if you have any baby showers or new baby celebrations coming up this summer.

Baby Blue

Hi Folks,

Today I'm happy to share a card made with a Bildmalarna image called Baby.  I don't have need for many baby cards, but I always want them to be special, since I know many of them become keepsakes, so they are always worth that extra effort.  When I saw this image in the Paper Jewels store I knew it was just what I had been looking for.

The image is coloured with copics, and then I used my sewing machine to add the stitching on, adhered the buttons and pin with blue dots, and added a sentiment--talk about easy!

Tea time thank you

It's Tuesday again and I'm pleased to  share with you another Paper Jewels card using the Pie and Jam stamp, my favorite stamp lately.

The image is coloured with copics.  I used a doily on here, my first card using a doily, and really liked how it came out.  The DP and ribbon are SU. 

Cherry Pie with Paper Jewels

Hi folks,

Another Tuesday has arrived where I have the chance to share with you a card made using stamps from Paper Jewels.  This one is using the same image I used last week, Pie and Jam from Bildmalarna.  This has become my current favorite stamp!

You'll notice I coloured one of them as blueberry jam and this was because I wanted to enter this months Clearly Delightful challenge, which is to use blue and green in the main image.  Laurie is providing a lovely digi image free to folks who participate, so you might want to do so too.  It could be a sweet little girl wearing a green and blue dress, or something like I've done.

Country Thank you

The first Tuesday in May is here, and so I have the opportunity to share a Paper Jewels card with you.  You can find this card and other cards by the design team at the Paper Jewels Blog.

Today's card is using the Bildmalarna stamp called Pie and Jam.  I love using this image for thank you cards, it's just so cozy!

The image is coloured with copics.  As for the cardstock in the background, I've used a linen background stamp on it, tone on tone, to give it texture. 

You've probably noticed my blog's been a bit quieter the last couple of weeks--I've been doing some "part time" courses in addition to working so it's been a bit hectic.  Luckily it's only for a few more weeks, and then we'll be back to normal :-)

Oh yes, and not to forget the important things,
for hubby:  "Go Canucks Go!"
and for my French Canadian heritage: "Go Canadiens!!"

Paper Jewels May Challenge

This month we have a new challenge from the Paper Jewels Blog.  In case you don't know, Paper Jewels is a local Western Canadian online store that sells rubber stamps including Bildmalarna and Sweet Pea, as well as some other items and stamp lines.

This month, the challenge is pretty straight forward, it's a colour challenge to make a card using Navy, Yellow and Wine.

Love the colour combo.  In hindsight, using yellow for the background instead of white would have looked even better, but I still like it.  It's coloured with copics, and the ribbon and cardstock are SU.  The image used is Tossa Garden, a Bildmalarna image that is carried here in Canada by Paper Jewels.  

Play along with us this for this months challenge!

Paper Jewels April Challenge

April is here!  With it comes a new monthly challenge from the Paper Jewels Blog.

So, the challenge this month is to make a card using sewing (real or faux) and buttons.  The image used is a Bildmalarna image I got from Paper Jewels, called Pie and Jam.

You can't see it so well in the photo, but I also used paper piecing on the fabric covering the jars of jam, so I could put a canvas texture into it.

I made this card for a friend as a thank you card when she had us over for dinner, and decided to go all out and do real sewing.  I figured if she could go to all the effort of cooking I could also put a little extra effort in.  Since I don't know how to use that machine thing taking up space in my closet, I did hand sewing.  This image is perfect for a hostess gift/thank you card, and is also nice and easy to colour, which my blog followers must know by now is important to me LOL!

When you make a card, some times you are happy, sometimes you are ambivalent, and sometimes you are really proud.  This simple card is just the type of card I like to come out of my craft room :-)

Paper Jewels Tuesday

Tuesday is here again, and I'm happy to feature a Bildmalarna image on a card I made a few weeks back but hadn't posted yet.  Talk about a happy snow day!

The main image here is a Bildmalarna image called Mimo Ice Christmas. You can find the image at the Paper Jewels website.

The background is enhanced with Tattered Angels Glimmer mist, and the main image coloured with copics.  The snowflakes were coloured using my copic airgun to get the colour coordination. What do you think?

CPS Sketch 158

Happy Tuesday!  For today's creation I decided to go with a clean cut and simple card, something easy to mail without big bumps in the envelope, so I followed CPS sketch # 158 and came up with this:

The main image here is a Bildmalarna image called Lovely Day. You can find the image at the Paper Jewels website. It's coloured with copics.

Al in all this was a super quick and easy card, and I love the crisp feeling of it--I'm sure it'll find a home pretty soon!

Summer days

Well, at this time of year we start looking forward to the warmth of summer days.  This card was made with that in mind.

The main image here is called Mimosa on Fence. You can find the image at the Paper Jewels website.  It's coloured with copics, and I experimented with colouring the background, both the sky and ground, with the airgun.  I was trying to see if I could get a sunny sky.  It's not exactly as I envisioned it, so I'll have to keep experimenting.

It's dressed up with some Basic Grey rhinestones and a flower and ribbon...not much room for anything else!

Paper Jewels March inspiration challenge

Here's an interesting challenge from the Paper Jewels blog for you to try your hand at:  select a piece of jewelry from this website:  Gotta Have Bling
and then use that as inspiration for your card.


So first of all, before I show you my card, here is the item I used for inspiration:  

It reminds me of a necklace my mother had when I was a child that I particularly liked....the bold colours and the whimsical style combined, that's what I wanted to capture in my card.  And here's the card that resulted:

I wanted it not only to be bold and whimsical, but dreamy too.  What is she thinking about, you wonder when you look at this.  The image is a Bildmalarna one available from Paper Jewels, and coloured in with copics.  The rhinestones are Basic Grey and flowers a gift from Christmas.  The whipping cream on the beverage is fussed up with liquid pearls.


So, what do you think?

My Journal

Happy Tuesday!  It's Paper Jewels day for me, and I have to say this is one of my favoritest cards I've made in a while.

The main image here is called Mimosa's Book, by Bildmalarna. You can find the image at the Paper Jewels website.  I used the coffee staining technique for the journal paper in the background, and dug out my super favorite ribbon from StampingBella.  The main image is coloured with copics, as usual, and the sky background was done with the airgun.

Paper Sundae's Challenge #6 - Distressing

Happy Sunday!

Today's Paper Sundae Challenge was to make a card using the Distressing technique, and our sponsor is Paper Jewels.  Here's my creation:

It's coloured with copics, and distressed with sponging.

Enjoy your Sunday, and take time to check out the 2010 Olympics--Go Canada!

Cute and Girly

Today is the first monthly challenge for the Paper Jewels blog.  Jenny was kind enough to give us a pretty easy theme:  "Cute and Girly".


I used this adorable Bilmalarna image from Paper Jewels called Mimosa with flower basket.  These cute little drawings are from an artist in Sweden, and they really do have that Scandinavian feel to them.


With all the Valentines cards lately, I was tired of pink, so went with creme and beige and a subdued blue, I think it still manages to be cute and girly, especially with the lace :-)  The background (hard to see here) has blue clouds painted in with my copic air gun.


I think this'll make a great birthday or thank you card, a great multi purpose card to have tucked away in my stash.  At the last minute when I got to use it there's still room for a small sentiment.