Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

I've got a cute bunny card to share with you today, using Peek-a-Bunny by Rachelle Ann Miller:

I made this card for our challenge this week at Sentimental Sunday's which is to make a card using 3 or more punches. I love punches and have over 30 of them, so I figured this wouldn't be that tough of a challenge.  I hope you'll play along with us.  Remember that you need to use a sentiment on any card submitted to the Sentimental Sunday's challenge.

The sentiment is one from Raindrop Echo Designs that I really like as it can be used for pretty much anything.

Have a happy day, whether it is an egg hunt with your kids, a lazy day around the house, or your Easter services at your Church, whatever you do, enjoy!

Easter or Spring challenge at Sentimental Sundays

Happy Sunday!  After our little snow storm earlier this week, Mother Nature has turned around and brought Spring back with sunshine and warmer weather...the poor plants and outdoor life must all be in shock LOL!

Today at Sentimental Sundays we have a challenge to make a card (with a sentiment of course) focused on Easter or Spring.  Here's what I came up with.

The sentiment is from Raindrop Echo Designs, available at the Whimsy store.  The flowers and ribbon are from my stash (the foliage came wrapped around a gift bag--talk about recycling) and the butterfly is from an SU die.

This month we are celebrating Earth Day, I hope you will find time to plant something, maybe a tree!

Help for Japan Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to a very special blog hop today!  You may have been on the first hop that Whimsy put on for this special cause.  Well, there were so many who volunteered to join in that we had to do a second one!  The illustrators of Whimsy Stamps have come together to draw a special set of digi images for the purpose of raising money for the relief effort in Japan.  All proceeds from the sale of these images will be donated to that cause.   Kenny K, Raindrop Echo Designs, Meljens Designs, and Crissy Armstrong all contributed art work.

For the whole month of April, you can purchase the images as a set or individually (your choice) by visiting this page on the Whimsy store site.  Please consider helping this special cause by purchasing one or all of the digital images we are offering. 

If you have landed here from Cheryl's blog, you are right on track.  If you have come here randomly and would like to start hopping from the beginning, please go to Ann's blog.   She has the blog rotation order posted if you need to refer to it.

The amazing ladies of two design teams have come together to host this blog hop for you!  The team from Sentimental Sundays and the Kenny K Krafty Girlz have joined forces to design some amazing jaw dropping creations for you.  You have seven days to hop through all the blogs and enjoy all the lovely creations from these talented people.

The hop runs from now through til Sunday April 17 at noon.  There will be several opportunities to win blog candy!  Four random commenters will get a chance to receive one of the three individual images or Ann's sentiment set.  So be sure to leave comments all along the way for your chance at a free digi!  Also, if you post the "Help for Japan" button on your blog's sidebar, you can enter into the draw for the grand prize!  The grand prize will consist of the entire digital set made just for this cause as well as a gift certificate donated by Ann of Raindrop Echo Designs worth $10 to use at the Whimsy Stamps store! To enter, you must help us advertise for this cause by posting the "Help for Japan" button on your blog's side bar (just grab it from my side bar or from the top of this post) and then get your name on the Inlinkz option on Ann's post so we can be sure to find the winner. 

Now on to my project: 

I have used a special sentiment in my project today, created by Ann to lend support to this cause.

Next you'll want to visit Chris's blog to continue hopping.  Thank you so much for stopping by, and for your support of this very worthy cause. 

Treasured memories with Sentimental Sundays

Today we have a challenge at Sentimental Sundays to create a card on the theme Treasured Memories.

Here's my take on this.  You'll see I'm featuring a Cornish Heritage farms image that I knew I had to have as soon as I saw it as it reminded me of many special days of my childhood at the beach with my family.  I've paired it up with a sentiment created by Raindrop Echo Designs.

Cute and Cuddly with Sentimental Sundays

Today's challenge at Sentimental Sundays is to make a Cute and Cuddly themed card, with (of course!) a sentiment.  As soon as I saw the challenge I knew I had to dig out one of my House Mouse stamps, and this one here is one  of my all time favorites!  I decided I could stretch the Lucky theme from St. Patty's a bit longer, and use this for a March birthday.

The sentiment is one from the Lucky Sentiments sets by Raindrop Echo Designs, available at Whimsy Store.

Here is the link where I found the free digi for the shamrock:  http://rubberstamping.about.com/od/digitalstamps/ss/Four-leaf-clover-Free-Digital-Stamp.htm

Focus on the Sentiment with Sentimental Sundays

Happy Sunday folks!

Today at Sentimental Sundays we have a challenge to make a card focused on the sentiment.  I like this challenge since it means a bit of a break from colouring :-)  With St.Patricks day having passed by so quickly this week I wanted to (belatedly!) celebrate!

The sentiment is one from the Lucky Sentiments sets by Raindrop Echo Designs, available at Whimsy Store.

Here is the link where I found the free digi for the shamrock:  http://rubberstamping.about.com/od/digitalstamps/ss/Four-leaf-clover-Free-Digital-Stamp.htm

Song inspiration

Sunday's here, and it's a week to Christmas!

This week at Sentimental Sundays our challenge is to make a card with a sentiment, inspired by a song.  I chose to use the song "I'll be home for Christmas" which is one of my favorite Christmas songs.

The main image is a Thomas Kinkaid one from Cornish Heritage Farms, stamped with Sepia Versafine on Glossy cardstock.  The light brown cardstock in the upper corner background is coordinations paper, embossed and sanded.  The sentiment is a digi from Raindrop Echo Designs, available at the Whimsy store.

At work last week we were playing Christmas music, and one of my colleagues was asking us each for our favorite so she could play it for us.  It was neat and interesting, and a bit surprising too, to hear which songs everyone liked best.  My favorite is a tied...I like the song "My favorite things" which is played a lot at this time of year, but I'm not sure if it's technically a Christmas song.  for a "real" Christmas song, I like Silent Night best.  What about you? 

Recipe challenge

Sunday's here again, I hope you all have been having a great weekend!  For me it's been super busy and very crafty, with group card making get togethers and a dinner party too....think I'll need a rest by Monday LOL!

Today at Sentimental Sunday's we have a fun recipe challenge for you....to make a card using 3 DP, 3 Buttons and ribbon too.  This is my creation.

The cute fish image is a freebie available right now by new digi artist, Marker Guru.  The sentiment is from the Raindrop Echo designs Get Well set available at the Whimsy store.  The image took about 2 minutes to colour with copics, very easy, and then I airbrushed around the outside of it.  Cut out the DP and layered it up.

The sunflowers are made using a Limited Edition stamp set called Aztec Gold from Heartfelt Creations that coordinates with the Blossoms 2 Nestability set, and which is only available until the end of December....They are stamped in orange ink on orange patterned DP and then cut out with the die cut and then layered using a glue gun (though pop up dots would work just as well.

Gotta run, today's guest has arrived!  I'll catch up with you later in the week.

Dolphin Thank you

Sunday has rolled around again, I just can't believe how fast time is passing!  It means Christmas is that much closer, and then after that my annual sun vacation--yay!  I was thinking about warm ocean and palm trees when I worked on this card.

The cute dolphin image is a digi from Marker Guru that's been a freebie this past week--if you go soon you may be able to snag it yourself!  The tickets are from a digi set called Worldwide TIcket Sentiments by Raindrop Echo Designs and available at the Whimsy store.  

Our challenge at Sentimental Sundays this week is to make a thank you or a Thanksgiving card.  Since we already celebrated Thanksgiving here in Canada last month, I decided to go with the Thank you theme.  I hope you'll play along with us this week!

The image was coloured with Copics, using the airgun for the background.  I also used a white and silver gel pen to add some accents to the dolphin.  The backgrounds were swiped with white pigment ink after being embossed.

I plan to bring this card with me on our next vacation to use as a thank you card for our customer service rep at the resort--that's the person who makes sure everything goes smoothly and deals with your complaints.  We're pretty high maintenance--seems we are always asking to change rooms, need help with reservations etc--so they usually deserve some extra thanks :-)  I was thrilled to be able to use the tickets in different languages, including Spanish which is what they speak there.

Hope you have all been having a great week.  

Childhood

Happy Sunday!

Today at Sentimental Sunday's we've got a new challenge for you--Childhood.  I decided to interpret this to use this fabulous sentiment from Raindrop Echo Designs that I've been eyeing up for a while.

The main image is one from Mo's Digital Pencil, and I like it since it has a cute puppy and it's a beach scene (one of my favorite places).  The background is coloured using the Copic Airbrush system, the images coloured with Copics, and the sentiment and image are digital, so no stamping except for the background!

A sketch at Sentimental Sundays

Hi folks,

Today at Sentimental Sundays we've got a sketch for you.  I don't use sketches very often, and I really enjoyed playing with this one.  I hope it will inspire you too, and that you'll play along with us too this week.  Here is the card I made:

The main image of the dog is Bismark from Mo's Digital Pencil.  The sentiment is from a Raindrop Echo Designs digi set called Warm Winter Wishes available at the Whimsy store.

All colouring is with copics, and I used my Bow-easy for the bow.  I used white craft ink to stamp the snowflakes on the beige cardstock, and then also to highlight the embossed blue cardstock.  Will defiinitely be making more cards using these images, both the sentiment and Bismark!

You may have noticed I've been quiet this week on updating my blog and visiting yours, it's been super hectic this past two weeks at work and I've had to work a lot of extra hours, but next week is a 3 day week and then I get to go to a craft show and meet up with some crafting folk in person--Yay!  It'll be good to get the inspiration, it seems all those extra hours at the office have killed my creative brain cells, you should have seen me today in my craft room, it was very sad--I couldn't get anything to work, created a lot of pieces of this and that but after 7 hours in my craft room I only got 3 cards done--good thing I'm not tracking the cost of these based on my hourly wage LOL!

Anyway, I hope you are all having a great week, and I will be around visiting for updates and to see what you've all been up to.

Sentimental Sundays

Happy Sunday!

Today I'm happy to share with you some good news....drum role here...I have been accepted to the Sentimental Sundays team!  When the challenge blog first started a number of months ago I was excited since Ann, of Raindrop Echo Designs, makes such beautiful sentiments and I liked the idea of a challenge blog focused on featuring sentiments.  I'm thrilled to be part of the team.

This weeks theme is Birthdays, I hope you'll play along with us!  To get you started, here is the card I made:

The main image is an Elizabeth Bell image, and the sentiment is from Raindrop Echo Designs, available at the Whimsy Store.  Don't the two totally coordinate?!  The background was made using a Cuttlebug folder.  All colouring is with Copics.

My plan is for this to be a very productive crafty day -- work has ramped up the last couple of weeks and  has been cutting in to my crafting time, so I've got some catching up to do.  I hope you all have a great day!

Seaside Reflections

Today I've got another card for you, I've been feeling inspired the last few days, and I wanted to play along with this weeks challenge at Sentimental Sundays (Lace or Ribbon + Sentiment) so I took out this same stamp I was playing with last time round and created something new.

The image is from the Sarah England line of CHF.  The sentiment is from Raindrop Echo Designs.  Once again, the bulk of colouring was done with my airgun.  If you want to see the sentiment larger (or the card for that matter) you just need to click on it.

We haven't started "parking lessons" yet, so the weekend has gone well so far LOL!  But we'll see what tonight holds.  Wish me well!

Challenges:
Sentimental Sundays, ribbon or lace plus sentiment
Stampin for the weekend, anything goes
Scrappy Frogs - Stitching

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:

A child is momentous

Today I have a special card to share with you.  So many cards I make are made to meet design team or other challenge requirements, and then there are the bursts of creativity, but once in a while I need a special card for a special friend for a special event, and this is one of those.

As you can likely guess, a friend of mine is expecting, and I'm so happy and excited for her as she and her husband have wanted this for quite a while.  So it is a very special thing, and needed the bestest card I could make.  So I dithered and dithered for weeks about what to make.  Finally, in my search of all possible images, I came across this Mother to be image from Mo's that seemed just perfect.  Then I needed the best sentiment possible, so I went and checked out what Raindrop Echo Designs might have, and got this one that is carried at the Whimsy store.  Lastly, I needed a layout, and then I saw this weeks OCC sketch layout and suddenly inspiration hit.  I modified it a bit as I wanted to use the velum layer.

If you want a better look at it, particularly the sentiment, you can click on the image to make it bigger.

As you who follow my blog know, I rarely have the patience to decorate the inside of the card, but this time I made that effort, and here's what the inside looks like:

So it's been passed to my friend now, and I am wishing this soon to be family health and happiness.

Butterfly scene

Happy Sunday!

Once again we have a Paper Sundae challenge for you, and this one is really fun.  The challenge is to create a scene.

For my card, I decided to create a nature scene, using my copics and airgun, two different SU sets (for the grass and flowers), and a Spellbinders die cut (for the butterfly), as well as a digi sentiment from Raindrop Echo Designs.

Check out the different scenes prepared by our Design Team to get some other ideas of how to go with this challenge, and join us.  One randomly selected participant in this weeks challenge will get a gift certificate to  My Creative Classroom who offers online courses for advanced card making techniques.

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.

Playtime with kitty

My kitty cat has been really bored since the weather turned and he sure does get into everything.  If I try to sit at my craft table he wants to sit on my lap or play with the ribbon.  Here you can see he thought photographing the cards was yet another fun game to participate in.

But he's so cute, that I couldn't resist including him, so instead of shooing him away I snapped off a bunch of pics.

And here is a close up of the card itself.  I used a digi stamp I'd seen in the SCS gallery, and which I got at Paper Maniac.  I love the saying and it really expresses how I feel about the beauty of the season.