New Year Traditions

Welcome to 2010!    ~  And a facelift to my blog!

DH and I are having a quiet evening, making some homemade pizza, killing time trying to stay up till 12:00 midnight LOL!  I'm wracking my brain right now since I did not get all my Christmas cards out on time, and now I want to send out New Years cards instead, but I don't have any New Years stamps!  Hmm.  I thought I'd share with you an adorable card I made recently that was for Christmas--do you think an angel works for New Years Cards?  What about snowflakes?  Hmm.  Will keep thinking.

Anyway, back to this card--don't you love this teddy bear angel, which is one of the newer Ildi Co. digital stamps called Cuddles Kuma Angel.

The angel is coloured with copics, with spica pen for the halo to tie in with the gold ribbon.  The background paper is sprayed with pearl Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, and a sponge with dark blue ink was rubbed across the embossed stars to make them jump out more.

Enough about the card, cards are great to talk about, but tomorrow is January 1st, the start of the New Year!

I love the start of a new year, the chance to stop and reflect on the year past, gear up for the year ahead, and start with a fresh slate.

What are your traditions for New Years?

My better half and I have had a tradition we've done for many years now.  We have a notebook that we use as a diary which we use for our "new years" questions.  This is a list of questions we put together a number of years back, and each year we discuss them, write down our ideas about them, and then review the things we wrote in prior years.  It is fun and interesting to look back on.  What questions do we ask?  Well, here they are.....

1. Most memorable moment of the past year
2. Best movie seen in the past year
3. Happiest moment or event in the past year
4. News story that most captured your attention in the past year
5. Most difficult moment or event in the past year
6. One life lesson learned during the past year
7. Most memorable meal in the past year
8. Advise to your self for the year ahead
9. Goals for the year ahead


I was thinking of a new tradition, and that's to ask you, my readers, to leave me a comment with your answer to any of these you want to share.  It'll be fun and interesting to see what you have to say :-)

I hope you enjoy whatever traditions you have for New Years, and that the year ahead is a good one for you!

Snowy Elzybells

Well Christmas is done, and many of you are journey'ing home from family and friends homes back to your own.  The  fuss is wound up for another year, but we still have New Years to look forward to and another stat holiday coming up this week--Yay!

To celebrate saying goodbey to Christmas, here is yet another card I made in preparation for the holidays.  As you can see, there are lots of snowflakes on this one!

The image is an Elzybells one received in a swap.  These cute Elzybells caught my eye and I've got a stash of them, which I never use since I don't want to use them all up.  So easy to colour, and so very perky!

Enjoy the rest of the "holiday season" and if you have snow in your neck of the woods I hope you take the time to go out and enjoy the good part of it--the wholesome fun of snowballs, sledding, snow angels, snow forts, and snow men.

Ho Ho Ho!

This was a fun card to make, even though my DH doesn't think it looks Christmasy (?!).

The moon was a round piece of paper adhered with double sided tape (the non permanent type) and then I sprayed with Graphite Tattered Angels mist.  The trees were then stamped on (Gina K image) and then finally Santa and his reindeer were layered over top of that.

Christmas Eve is Here!

Merry Christmas to those of you celebrating on Christmas Eve!

In our family the tradition is to celebrate on the 24th--we have a big dinner, then dance around the Christmas tree singing Carols (each of us gets to pick one), then opening of gifts, and eating of candy and cookies.  It's always a wonderful time with the family that we look forward to all year.

But you, say, enough about your family, we want to see a card!  Well, here's a card I made a while back but hadn't posted yet:

Isn't this image adorable!  I love this card, one of my favorite Christmas cards made this year.  It is so warm and cozy feeling.  It looks better in real life, since in the photo it's hard to see the background pattern in the green card stock.

The image is a Changito image I got in a swap, coloured with my copics and cut out with Nesties.  The poinsettia red paper is embossed, and I put ink on the embossing folder before running it through the machine.  It's finished off with a few Robins Nest Dew Drops.

This card makes me feel like grabbing a cup of hot chocolate and snuggling by the fire.

Gifts!

It's that time of year when there are gift exchanges (and last minute shopping!) happening, and this cute Ildi Co. Snopal seems so appropriate right now.  I was proud to make this card entirely (except for white base) from scraps in my bins....got to make a lot more doing that!

I hope you all have your shopping done.  I, of course, had mine done weeks ago (note, you have no way of verifying that).  Is everything wrapped and under the tree?  Are the decorations up?  Remember, Christmas is about fun and family, and if the "bling" isn't all perfect it's not a big deal!  Kind of like a card, the bling is nice, but it's the whole thing and main image that are really the most important.

Snowy Star Gazing

I just love this image, staring at the stars on a winter evening.  The image is an Ildi Co Snopal, and the sentiment is from Sunshine stamps.  I've really been in a mood to use Kraft paper lately, it's just a bit more old fashioned and homey, and that's been suiting me.  Do you use the Kraft paper much?  I've seen very few snowfolk done like this, it seems they are usually on a white background....If you've never tried it, why not take the chance now and see what you think of it?  Let me know how your experiments go!

The snowfolk are coloured using white craft ink applied with an aqua painter.  If you don't have white craft ink you could also use white pencil crayon or white watercolour crayons.  The idea is you need something that will sit on the cardstock and show white, not get sucked in and go translucent.

The capes etc are coloured with copics--this works since we are using darker colours for them.  The white ruffle on the capes is filled in with liquid pearls, which gives texture and a nice pearly finish.

So do you all have lots of crafting plans this weekend, or are you now getting sucked into the Christmas last minute rush vortex, LOL!  I wish you all a safe and productive weekend!

Santa's cookies

This was the first card I made with this die cut.  It is very large and I was worried about wasting so much paper, and then I figured out it was a perfect size for cutting out of the underneath mat (which always bothers me as a waste of paper.  See this is how the back side looked before I adhered it to the white card base:

I'm always happy when I can find a trick to save some cardstock and this just turned out to be so efficient!

This was also my first time using this HM image, and I'm still not really keen on how it came out, it is actually a hard image to colour to figure out just the right colours to use for the cookies and the Santa note.  I will be experimenting more with it!  Despite that, it is such a sweet image, and I do like the finished effect.

And, my question to you today, is, do you leave notes out for Santa?  Do your kids still believe?

It's a jungle out there

Feel a bit tired of snowflakes and stockings?  Well here's something that's a bit of a change of pace.

I've been thinking about the Ildi Co dinosaurs since the last card I made with them, and started off with a plan to make an "old fosil" card as a birthday card, but once I'd done up the background and layed out the dino, the words jumped out at me, "it's a jungle out there" and I thought that wouldn't be bad for a sentiment.

I decided to pair that up with a birthday wish, so I decorated the inside of the card to match.

What do you think?

Wish upon a star

Less than two weeks to Christmas!  I'm going to keep this brief, I know you probably don't have a lot of time right now for blogging and surfing and so on to the main "piece de resistance":

Despite a really simple layout, I am really happy with how this card came out.  The image is a Victoria Case digi that has been coloured with Copics and a bit of Spica glitter pen on the wings and star.  The DP is from SU, and it's dressed up with scalloped borders and primas.  Super easy, super quick, and a nice card of wonder.

Take care and good luck with all your baking, shopping etc!

Crafty snowman

This cute snowman is yet another of the Ildi Co. Snopals.  I've been having so much fun with these frosty friends since they are all different and interesting.  For this one I printed the image on kraft paper (one of my favourite options with snowfolk) and then coloured it using an aqua pen and white craft ink--just dabbed the pen onto the ink pad and then applied.  The trees and nose etc. are coloured with Copics.  I used a couple of my newer cuttlebug embossing folders, and accented with Primas and Robin's nest dew drops  All in all a simple and yet really sharp card.  I like how homey it feels, and think it'll be a great card for one of my crafty friends.

Are you all done your Christmas cards yet?  For those of you mailing them out, time is slipping away, but remember, late is better than never!

Cozy evenings

At this time of year there's nothing better than to snuggle with a cup of cocoa by the fire.  My hubby picked this image out on one of my last House Mouse orders, obviously unaware of how much work it would be to colour!  Despite the size and detail, it was a lot easier than I expected because it's largely the same colours used over and over again. In case you are wondering, yes, I did use Copics and they did a great job.

The layout is really simple, with such wonderful artwork in the base image there's not much needed!  A bit of ribbon and cord as an accent and some layers of carstock to matte it and that's it!

Speaking of that artwork, take a look at the picture - are the little micey's running around frantic?  Obviously they don't live in my house lately LOL!  I hope that you all manage to take some breaks from baking and  shopping and Christmas prep in order to rest and reflect and enjoy some quiet cozy evenings with friends and family!

Beary Birthday

Even with Christmas approaching there are still birthdays happening (talk abut a hectic time of year for b'days!), and here's a birthday card I made recently for my SIL.  I thought this bear image was just perfect, since it looks like a very relaxed and happy bear.  My SIL seems to have a hectic life always rushing around taking care of everyone around her, so I wanted to wish her some time for herself to relax, and this image from Ildi Co, Cuddles Kuma Morning, seemed just right, plus it's a nice, easy and quick one to colour (yay!).

The main image is coloured with copics, and the background cardstock is SU paper - you can see the swiss dots cuttlebug folder was used as well as one of the floral edgy ones (can't recall name).


The sentiment is a retired SU one from my cupboard, for a set that I paid way too much for on ebay and then never use since it's too intricate to colour easily (argh!) so I'm happy to at least be using the sentiment!  Does this happen to you?  I try to make sure now that not only do I like the images I buy, but that they'll be easy enough to use that I don't avoid them. 

I doodled around the sentiment with the fine tip of an SU marker (boy, wished my copics had those fine tips!).  To make it stand out more, I popped up the greeting with dimensionals and accented the border of the main image with  little Basic Grey pearls.

My DH also has his coming up, and it seems to me to be a tough time for birthday's since everyone is distracted with Christmas.  I guess it depends how you look at it--is it a festive time of year for a birthay, or a time of year when your birthday may fall second to the festive season.  Guess it's like asking if the cup is half full or half empty LOL!  So tell me,  do any of you have birthday's coming up in the next little while, and what is your perspective on this?

Shaken, not stirred

It's now about 3 weeks to Christmas!  Are you all going crazy getting ready?  Parties, shopping, hostess gifts, thank you cards, Christmas card, baking, more baking, eating the baking, having to do more baking LOL!  It all leads up to the big day with the elaborate dinner and dancing around the tree singing carols (or is that just my family?).  I have a feeling my blog posts will be dwindling over the next few weeks - my apologies in advance!

So much of the fun of Christmas doesn't happen on the actual day, but in the days and weeks leading up to it....between the aforementioned Christmas parties, gatherings, eating, drinking, shopping, and planning a lot of the joy of Christmas, I think, is the anticipation and the social season....and then in January we (and our credit cards) recuperate and start dieting.

This card was once that I was really happy with, the image is a Stampingbella one called Christmatini.  I coloured it with my copics and accented with Spica glitter pens, then used Crystal Effects over the glass.  The embossed ornament paper in the background was made using a Cuttlebug folder that was first inked up and then run through.  A bit of SU DP, scalloped, for interest, and then another layer.  The layout is loosely based on one from OCC that I used at Halloween and that had been floating in my head since.

I've got lots of ideas in my mind, speaking of which, for all kinds of cards, I wish I had the time to make them all!  But for now, off to take care of all those other things we talked about (oh yah, and that thing called work LOL!). :-)

Cheers!

Ink, Ink, Ink

This card was made with an older retired SU set that I NEVER use, and now I've got ideas coming out of my head for it, and there is a story behind that.

I had some family members over recently for a girls craft day, and started out by explaning all the inks on the counter--use the Memento for this, the Versafine for that, the Versamark for this other thing, the Encore for that other thing....their eyes were glazing over!  It wasn't that long ago I only had a handful of ink pads, now I have a drawer.

When I got this image I only had SU black ink, and it was really hard to get defnition out of it, and a nice clear stamped image, so it had been relegated to the back of the cupboard.  On this particular day, my MIL pulled it out and stamped the image with the Versafine (these ladies are quick learners!) and when I saw it I was WOWED!  What a difference!  So then, of course, I had to stamp and create with it :-)

The background is Razzleberry sprayed with Tattered Angels Walnut gold glimmer spray.  I sponged three colours of ink to get the antique look - saffron closest to the centre, cocoa on the outside, and creamy caramel in between the two.

I made another of those snowflakes I've been doing lately (see earlier posts for details) glitzed up with some ink on the edges and liquid pearls and a Basic Grey pearl in the centre.

So, my challenge to you is to look in your cupboard at stuff you haven't used in a while, and which might work better for you today (as compared to when you first got it) when used with the other supplies and techniques that you now have.

Kreativ Blogger Award

What fun today with this!  I got my first "blog award" today from my friend Jenny--Yay!  I have to, first of all, sat thank you to Jenny for the Nomination for this Kreativ Blogger Award.  Jenny has been a huge inspiration to me the last few months, she really has given me inspiration to take my blog and card making to the next level.  You can check out her blog here:  Playing is a Passion

And as I've been nominated, I get to participate in the fun activities, and nominate some other folks, more on that below.

One thing I get to do is share with you some interesting trivia about myself.  I had a hard time figuring out what you might be interested in, and here goes:

1.  I love farms and the countryside and seeing live animals like cows and chickens and lambs.
2. Chocolate and Shellfish are my favourite foods (but not combined!)
3. I enjoy having a garden full of pretty flowers to look at but don't like gardening itself (weeds, bugs, UGH!)
4. I would pick a library of books over a tv and cable any day
5. I was introduced to Cardmaking by my SIL via an invite to an SU party that I went to with a sense of obligation, sure I wasn't interested (That's the funniest thing, I think!)
6.  I'm willing to scrimp and save and do without on all kinds of day to day things so that I can have money for vacations and craft supplies.
7.  My day job (which pays for said day to day things as well as fun things) is uncreative and very rule based (Corporate Accounting).

So, does that give you a better picture of me?

Now on to Nominations (this is the tough part).

Crystal, Maryvel, Carla, Lesley, Susan, Christyne, Jenn

To those of you who I am nominating, you will want to follow these steps:

1. thank the person who nominated you.

2. copy the logo and place it on your blog.

3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.

4. name 7 things abut yourself that people might find interesting

5. nominate 7 kreativ bloggers

6. post links to the 7 blogs you nominate

7. leave a comment on each of the blogs, letting them know they have been nominated.

Couldn't resist...

Ok, ok, got errands and chores to do, but couldn't resist one more challenge card...obviously got my mojo today!

The sketch is another from Our Creative Corner, SASSC42.  The trees are all from a Gina K set, Tree Silhouettes, accented with white gel pen on the edges for snow.  I added flowersoft on the "ground" and stamped snowflakes over it all with white craft ink.

I didn't have any velum tags, so made my own by cutting a larger circle, dabbing it with silver ink, and then cutting out the centre with a smaller circle nestie, and then glueing the velum in the centre.

In real life, it's fabulous, looks like a snowy winter evening :-)

And another challenge

And here's a couple cards made for another challenge I came accross this weekend, at Squigglefly (Challenge 29),  to do a ROUND Christmas card in non-traditional colours.

Now, the question is, what is a non-traditional Christmas card colour now-adays?  I see cards in all colours, so this was hard to figure out.  I made one in beige/cream and black, and the other in cream/eggplant and black.

I was excited to get to play with one of my newest stamps, the SU Baroque Motifs (the swirly in the background).  The dove is a stamp from the bin at Micheals, and it's been covered in both cards with liquid pearls (wonderful stuff!).

Weekend challenges - what fun!

I've really been enjoying playing with the online challenges this past week, and here is a card where I managed to use three of them at once :-)

First of all, I used the sketch challenge from Our Creative Corner that they posted on Saturday--It's such a simple sketch, but how to make it unique or special was what really challenged me.

Then I remembered the challenge my online friend Christyne had set, on her website Handstamped from the Heart, to use something new you've been saving for that special time, and also to use those goodies that you usually think are too precious to use.  And I just happened to have some Tsukineko Platinum Shimmer Paint in my cupboard that was still in the plastic packaging.  In the spirit of this, I also dug out my precious velum paper, which I never use since I always "save it" for a special occasion.

Finally, I decided to follow a snowflake theme for the snowflake challenge at KL Stampin, and made my snowflakes using ideas from their tutorial.

What do you think?

Village Christmas - Again

If you've been following my blog you know I love this stamp, Village Christmas, part of the Thomas Kinkaid line of Cornish Heritage Farms.

Here is another fabulous card using this stamp:

I used an older sketch from CPS #92--I was quite excited to see they have a lot of their old sketches archived, and this one caught my eye right away.  The image is stamped with black Versafine onto glossy cardstock.  And let me tell you, it's a good idea to let the image dry before you try to use it!

I cut the cardstock and DP to match the sketch, and then I just glued it all together and added bling--a super fast and really sophisticated end result :-)

CPS Sketch 143

Here is a fun card I made with this weeks CPS sketch 143.  I used one of my fav House Mouse stamps, Swing Chime as the focus image.

There are tiny rhinestones in the centre of each snowflake and Crystal Effects on the surface of the bell, and the red ribbon is coloured with a red glittery Spica pen--in person this card glitters and catches the eye magnificently.  I found in my cupboard an old SU stamp of pine branches that coordinated nicely to go in the background, and used an ornament from my online friend Alica.

Mother and baby

This sweet Elizabeth Bell image is one I got in a swap, and it was so fun to colour--accenting the folds etc.  It's always good to have cards in the cupboard ready for life events, and when friends have new babies that's definitely a time to share a card.

Snowflake challenge

Today's card was inspired by a Snowflake challenge (including tutorial) at KL Stampin N Scrappin Blog. 

In person, the snowflake is amazing, and it was made following the tutorial at the KL Stampin site.  The image is an Ildi Co Snowpal, one of my favorites since it's so sweet and mushy, and how often to you find a stamp of two snowfolk kissing?!  I meant to save this card for my husband for Christmas and then wound up showing it to him, so guess I need to make another.  Maybe if I save it for valentines (it's often snowy then!) he won't remember it anymore.

American Thanksgiving

I've noticed more Thanksgiving cards in my online lurkings, the past few days, and realized that Thanksgiving is coming up in the US.  Here in Canada we had our Thanksgiving in October, but since I know a lot of the folks who visit my blog are from other places, I thought I'd post this in celebration for our Southern Neighbours.

The image is a Precious Moments one which I got in a swap at SCS a while back.  It's coloured with copics.  The Ribbon is old SU ribbon from my stash and I stamped the Chocolate chip paper with chocolate chip ink using a Flannel patterned background stamp.

This is, I think, my favourite Thanksgiving image in my stash.  I think the turkey is cute and the tattered tablecloth etc. remind us to be grateful of what we have and to think on how we can share with others.

One of my college instructors, I remember, taught us that equity is not equality, and sometimes what is fair is to do more for someone else or pitch in a bit more than others and due to your circumstances or situation that balances out to fairness.  It is an interesting concept that bears thinking on.

For those of you celebrating Thanksgiving, have a wonderful day with family and friends and lots of good food :-)

End of Autumn

When I was cleaning my craft space this weekend I came across a lot of half finished projects, scraps of DP and paper, and images that had been coloured but not used yet.  This card is completely made up of these things!  I was so proud to use them up and get such a nice card out of it.  Don't you love the spellbinders leaf?  This card has already gone in the post to a craft friend in the US as they are celebrating Thanksgiving.

Masculine birthday cards

It's always so much easier for me to make cards for girls - you pull out some flowers or cute little girls or other cute things and add some primas and glitter and ribbon and Presto!  you have a great card.  Not so simple for men!
That's what card swaps are good for....things that you find hard :-)  So I signed up for a card swap and came up with one idea that I made a bunch of:

The stamp used is a Gina K one called Tree Silhouettes.  I loved this set from the first time I saw a card with it in a gallery at SCS--when I look out my kitchen window I see trees like this and they are just so beautiful, and this artist rendering of the tree is really good.   I sponged the centre area with sahara sand ink (having masked the circle) and then keeping the mask on stamped the trees with mellow moss. The background is mellow moss paper embossed with my Cuttlebug and the mat is sahara sand.  To liven it up and keep it masculine I used black ribbon and brads.

So what do you think, will the men who receive these cards like them?

Crochet flowers

This cute and perky card was quite an acheivement for me.

Having spent some time cleaning my craft area I set a goal to not take new pieces of cardstock from the shelf each time a new card is started, but to use up the many scraps.  No wonder I've been going through so much cardstock, it's all sitting in bits and pieces in a heap!  Does this happen to you?

So back to the card, the image is one I coloured back in the summer when I was recuperating from a shoulder injury, and I chose it to match with this gorgeous crochet flower my SIL gave to me.  Isn't it wonderful?!  The green leaves were cut out with Spellbinders nestabilities, and the button was a stray I found in the back of my drawer.  What was so amazing was that using scraps and precoloured images I still managed to colour coordinate everying!

Watch for more of these crochet flowers, I'm absolutely loving them and have already made a couple of cards with them, and there will be many more once I learn to make them myself :-)

CPS Card Sketch 142

Here's a second card using the CPS Card Sketch 142.  I made one card this sketch last weekend, and since then it's been lurking on my mind.  This just came together when I sat at my craft table using some scraps and stamped images that were on the surface.  Sure do love it when the creative bug is so easy!

The image is an Ildi Co one called Cuddles Kuma Morning and it's coloured with copics.  Ildi Co. has a sale on right now where if you buy two images you get the third free.  They are digi images, so you don't have to wait days for delivery and there are no shipping charges either.

The paper is miscellaneous from my scraps (so trying to use those up instead of creating more!).  The ribbon is some really pretty lacy designer SU ribbon I've been hoarding, and I was happy to be able to use it, but use so little of it LOL!

Christmas Carols are here!

I love Christmas music!  I listen to it through most of the year, and have my own favorites.  When I was told that the Ildi Co challenge for the next round was going to be based inspiration from a Christmas song, I was really happy.  This is the first card for this challenge that I've made:

The inspiration is the song Frosty the Snowman, and how he came to life one day.  These Snopals are so lifelike -- not just clumps of snow, but skiing and shoveling snow, and this one, giving a gift.  I wanted to add the words Believe in magic, but it was too busy on the exterior, so my plan is to decorate the inside using that.

You can play in this challenge too, check out the Ildi Co Inspiration Challenge at this link:  http://ildicochallenges.blogspot.com/2009/11/ildi-co-challenge-5-inspiration.html

The light blue background was sprayed with Tattered Angels Glimmer mist and run through the Cuttlebug.  I stamped the acetate top sheet with some snowflakes using white staz on ink and added a couple of snowflake stickers to hide the pop up dots adhering it.  For the main image it's an Ildi Co. Snopal.  I drew the snowy hills underneath and applied stickles, and used liquid aplique on the hat.  The small amount of colouring is done with Copics.

Sneak Peak: Free digi!

Well, here's a sneak peak of a new free digi being offered by Ildi Co at their SNR party on Thursday:

Isn't it cute?!  I was so thrilled when I saw it, since I love teddies and I love snowmen.  If you haven't used digi's before, don't be scared--they are really easy to work with.  Myself, I use Word to size and print the image, though some people use other programs, whatever word processing or picture software you are comfortable with should be able to be used.

For this card the snowman was "coloured" with stickles, and the teddy was coloured with Copics, and the snow at the bottom is white flowersoft.

In case you want a chance to try out digi's, in case you haven't used them before, or if like me you are addicted to them and simply excited to get a free one, here's the details of when and where to get it:

         WHERE:  SNR Ildi Co Party  (click on coloured text)

        DATE:   Thursday November 19, 2009

        TIME:   6-8 pm Pacific time

OCC Card sketch

Here's a card using the most recent card sketch from Our Creative Corner-SASSC40.

When I first looked at this sketch I wasn't sure which images I'd have that would work with these thin panels, and so I dug through my stamp drawers and came accross some old retired SU ones I haven't used in a long time.  This is a great set since you colour the image directly and stamp it, which I did using the Stamping up markers.

I've been short on general blank multipurpose cards, so I didn't put a greeting on here and figure this will be a good one to keep in my drawer at work - it'll be suitable for many occasions.

Today will be a happy day

Isn't this House Mousie cute!?  and his fortune reads "today will be a happy day".  What a great sentiment for a card.  And so useful.  I figure this could be a good luck card, or a take care card, or even a birthday card--love the versatility!

We love fortune cookies, my hubby and I.  After consuming way too  much greasy food at the Chinese Restaurant, we sit, sipping our hot tea, and read our fortunes and try to decipher if they make sense.  I usually tuck mine in my purse to look at again in a couple of weeks to see if it turned out accurate :-)

I used this weeks sketch from Card Positioning Systems, CPS142, as inspiration for the layout.

Dino Birthday

Having dinner with a friend recently, I mentioned how stumped I was on what theme to use Dinosaur images for.  She (who is NOT a card maker) looked at me like I was missing something pretty obvious, and said they'd be great for milestone birthdays.  In fact, I then realized, I probably should have made one for her since she just had one of those milestones {big grin and wink if she is reading}.

It just so happened I needed another birthday card this week for a male family member, and I decided to do some teasing with this idea.  Searching online for just the right sentiment resulted in some great results.



It's main image is an Ildi Co. Dino digi stamp called Dino's Rex.  They have about 6 different dinosaur images to choose from, and I had a hard time picking.  I coloured with my copics as usual.  Not a lot of bling, after all this is a "man" card.

What do you think?  Any other ideas to share with me of sentiments you would use with this image?

Good luck cards

Well, it hasn't been a crafty few days for me, but here is a card I made a few weeks ago.  Folks are always in the process of making life changes, and it's nice to give them a perky hopeful card at those times to help then as they charter those untested waters.

Usually for good luck cards I focus on ladybugs or clover, and this card features a ladybug.

Snowpals - New Ildi Co. Winter Digi Stamps

When I saw these new Snopal digi stamps released by Ildi Co. I was so excited!  I adore snowmen, but a lot of times the snowman images are all the same.  That can't be said for these.  Here's the first one I decided to play with, called Snopal Flowers:

This was the first one I used since I definitely know of how I will use it.  At this time of year we start getting lots of dinner invites, and I usually bring a pot of Poinsettias as a gift to the hostess, with a thank you card.  What better card to go with the Poinsettias than one with a picture of a snowman holding them :-)

I printed the digi image on kraft paper, and then coloured in the snowgirl in white with my watercolour crayons.  I used my copics to colour the other stuff, except for the gold foil around the poinsettia's which was coloured with my gold Spica pen.

For the poinsettia embossed background, I sprayed the cardstock with Walnut Gold Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist first, and then used red ink on the embossing folder, so that there is shimmer and definition.

I used more of the fabulous ribbon I got in a gift exchange from Laurie, and a bit of cord to balance it out and tie to the Kraft paper.

**BLOG HOP TODAY**

The other Snopals are equally interesting--there are some skating, skiing, kissing (!), shoveling snow....you can see more if you check out today's blog hop, which is a combination of three companies  (Ildi Co., Sunshine Stamps, and the Stamping Boutique) with new releases today.  You can get to the first post of the blog hop following this link (click on the image below):

...Eat dessert first

Here's a fun birthday card using an image I got in a swap of Fluffles--isn't he cute!

I used sketch CPS140 from Card Positioning Systems,

cut and embossed the background stuff with my cuttlebug, and coloured the image with my copics.  Quick and simple, and a good b'day card that's not too feminine :-)

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween all!  I hope you all have fun plans for today, whether it is getting your kids dressed up, greeting the cutie pies at the door, or going out for some fun festivities this evening.  I'm off to a Halloween party tonight, and this will be my thank you card for the hostess.  I used this adorable image form Ildi Co, of Cuddles Kuma and sketch from Our Creative Corner (SASSC38).

Winter's coming!

This past week has been pretty chilly here, and that's a sure sign that Winter's coming!  In addition to dreaming of sunny beaches, I've also been preparing to make my winter and Christmas cards, and I just might have succumbed to a couple of new sets of Spellbinder shapeabilities--Snowflakes :-).  I've also just had word of a blog hop next weekend, for three companies (Ildi Co., Sunshine Stamps, and the Stamping Boutique) where we'll have a chance to see the release of their new Winter images, and also the opportunity to win some fabulous prizes.  Talk about great timing!  

Sunny skies

Well, it's been a cold and rainy week and my craft room has seemed awfully cold to linger in.  I've been snuggling in blankies in front of the tv when home.  But I will make sure to make a couple of halloween cards tomorrow and post them :-)

In the meantime, I've been thinking of sunny skies, a warm breeze on a warmer day, and hot sand under my feet.  A cool drink, and palm trees rustling....Here are some pics if you want to try to visualize too.
 

 

 

The butterfly

I snagged a bunch of die cut butterfly's from a fellow crafter a number of months ago and they have sat in a box waiting to be used.  When I saw this sentiment, which is a digi image from Paper Maniac, I knew I'd have a chance to use one.

I love the sentiment, and decided it would be really good for a birthday card.  Inspired by some of the cards I've received lately, I even decorated the inside a bit.

Leaves are falling

I made a few cards this weekend and this was DH's favourite.  I used this cute bear from Ildi Co, and combined it with the sentiment and leaves image from Paper Maniac (Raindrop Echo Designs).  I thought they coordinated so well!  Coloured with copics and on a cream rather than white base.  I thought the fuzzy felt ribbon went perfectly with a teddy bear :-)

More fall cards

I was in a fall card mood still today, and this is one of my creations.   This is another of the images I got from Paper Maniac (image now from Raindrop Echo Designs). The gorgeous ribbon is yet another of the pretty things I got in a secret sister swap in September from Laurie.

I remember at the end of the summer I was in a rush to make summer cards, and then suddenly one day summer was over and I had no interest in them.  Guess that's what's happening now.  Soon enough it'll be time for snowflakes and snowmen and the Pere Noel / Father Christmas, but for now there are fall leaves and pumpkins to play with.

Beacon of Hope

Here's a simple card I made for a lighthouse themed swap.  While it is a pretty simple layout it was a lot of work due to the colouring--oh, how I want an airbrush for sky's and ocean!  Until then, each of these is a labour of love.  I kept it simple since I think the lighthouse theme is great for cards for men or for serious times, so didn't want it to be too fussy.  The image is from a Cornish Heritage Farms set called Beacon of Hope.