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 :-)