Christmas in September

Christmas is coming, and I've only got a handful of Christmas cards started, so today I decided to make one using one of the newer CHF stamp sets that I've gotten, called Evergreen Holiday.

I followed a template from Splitcoast Stampers for a Shadow Box Card.  If you haven't made one I recommend it, super easy and quick, and looks great in real life.  On the front panel I used 3 different stamps from the CHF set, one of the pine cones, one with the text and the bird.  On the interior I used 3 other stamps--the main image, the sentiment and the tree branch.  The tree branch and sentiment are popped up for depth.  White Flowersoft is spread over the snowy bank, and all colouring was with Copics.

On a side note, for those of you who have been following the saga of my drivers license, today I passed the exam and finally have my full drivers license-YAY!  Hubby rushed from work to the drivers testing center to make sure he was there at the end (in case I failed again and was needing moral support) and we went and grabbed a coffee....almost got in an accident in the Starbucks parking lot, wouldn't that have been comical to get in an accident a half hour after getting your license?!  Luckily we came out unscathed.  So happy to finally have accomplished this.

Have a great week ahead, folks, and I'll touch base later in the week with a fall card--got to capture all 4 seasons, right?

Autumn Hope

Morning folks!

Sunday is here again, and with the weather changing in my part of the world it sure feels like the end of Summer.  {Sigh}.  At least that means I'll have more indoor time to spend card making for the next few months :-)  LOL!

When I dug through my drawers of stamps, this one caught my eye since I've been seeing so many birds flying south lately.  It's an image I got recently from CHF and was needing to be inked up.  The sentiment is also from a CHF set.  

The image is stamped in Sepia Versafine on Staples 110lb...I realized after that if I had stamped it on the Aquabee marker paper I've been using lately that it would have had a finer impression...will make sure to use that next time!  The water and sky are coloured using my Copics and Airbrush, and a bit of colour added to the boat, hunter and dog with pastels.  Along the edges of the image, to give it a bit of a border, I've rubbed on metalic paste.

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday!

Halloween Sweet Pea

Hi folks,

I hope you are all enjoying the long weekend!

Today is the last day of the Back to School sale at Paper Jewels to buy 2 and get the 3rd off, so I thought I'd give you all a little reminder and share this card with you at the same time, using one of the images they currently carry.  

I felt like doing something feminine and also felt like doing a Halloween card--I've seen so many of them lately here in blogland!

The main image is a Sweet Pea image.  It's coloured with copics, and then I made the night sky by spreading rub on metalic paste with my fingers.  The lace ribbon was gathered and taped on the back.

Tonight I've got a driving lesson...got to learn how to be a bit more aggressive on the road, apparently.  And my re-exam is next week, so I'll have time for another lesson or two before then.

Today's card matches up with a bunch of different challenges:

Paper Jewels:  Evening scene

Paper Sundaes:  Mixed mediums:  The colouring is done with copics and background done with rub on metalic paste.

Stamptacular Sunday:  Distress it

Stampin for the weekend:  Shabby or vintage

Tuesday Throwdown:  Use ribbon in a different way (I ruffled my lace ribbon)

Live the life you have imagined

Well, today I'm off to do something I've procrastinated for about 18 years.....I'm off to take my driving exam for my full license!

In the spirit of that, here's a card I made last week before the flu bogged me down, with a fabulous quote from Thoreau.  If you have not read his work, I recommend Walden, which is an account of his experiences living with little funds in the woods of New England.

  

The image is a CHF one, and was stamped in Espresso Adirondak ink on Aquabee marker paper, it was then lightly coloured with copics.  The background and sentiment are also CHF--as I mentioned a while back, I went a little crazy with filling my wishlist when I found out they were shutting down LOL!

And speaking of shopping, Paper Jewels is having a back to school sale for only a couple more days (till September 5th!) and they a buy 2, get the 3rd free deal on all their Bildmalarna, Sweet Pea, Spesch, CC Designs and other stamps, so this is the time to check them out!

The day is shinning here, I'm sitting on the deck listening to the birds sing, and planning what cards I could make...and in a couple hours I'll be off to complete and pass my drivers exam....I will be so happy to get this done after all the thinking about it and procrastination over the years....Wish me well! 

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UPDATE:  Saturday....well, figured I should give you all an update on the driving test.  Sadly enough I FAILED it (sigh!) however, the good news is I was able to schedule another one in two weeks, and have arranged a couple of driving lessons between now and then....I'll keep you updated as the saga continues!

The road less travelled

I love this poem by Robert Frost, and when I saw this CHF stamp set with it I decided it had to become part of my collection.  I thought it paired well with the forest images and the deer (also CHF stamps).

The leaf is cut using a Spellbinders die and sprayed while still in the die with Tattered Angels Glimmer mist.  The image is coloured with Copics.

When I was in high school I took all the writing and literature courses available, and just loved them.  I still enjoy pulling out my old books now and then.

 Here's the full poem:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveller, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could 

To where it bent in the undergrowth; 

Then took the other, as just as fair, 

And having perhaps the better claim, 

Because it was grassy and wanted wear; 

Though as for that the passing there 

Had worn them really about the same, 

And both that morning equally lay 

In leaves no step had trodden black. 

Oh, I kept the first for another day! 

Yet knowing how way leads on to way, 

I doubted if I should ever come back. 

I shall be telling this with a sigh 

Somewhere ages and ages hence: 

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- 

I took the one less traveled by, 

And that has made all the difference

...Robert Frost

I hope you have a great day :-)

Challenges:

Sentimental Sundays, inspiration
Tuesday Taggers, poem

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On a separate note, I wanted to share with you about some Blog Candy I ran across which is absolutely fabulous.  You don't normally see me posting about these, but all those Tim Holz ink pads and goodies pushed the scales.

So, the deadline is August 30!  And here is the website:  http://blog.artugolok.ru/
Oh yes, and picture of the scrumptuous yummy:

Sweet Pea Masterpiece

Another day, another card, LOL!

Today I have a little masterpiece created using a Sweet Pea image from the Paper Jewels store, part of the Ching-Chou Kiuks Sheet #14.  As you can see I'm still in my garden mood :-)

The image is coloured with copics, and since I didn't feel like fussing I cut off a lot of the swirls that are normally part of the image.  The cardstock on the bottom right is Co-ordinations paper that I've sanded down.  

What do you think of the flower?  I was visiting my friend Christine last week and she graciously let me hog her die cutting machine and dies for most of the time and I got to cut out a bunch of these flowers.  They've since been coloured with the Copic Airbrush, spritzed with Peal Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, and then the edges rolled around a wood skewer, before being assembled.  

I've been very grateful to my Mother-in-law since she gave me a huge bunch of assorted buttons, including some absolutely fabulous vintagy ones.  They've been organized and touched and yet I haven't been using them since they are too "precious" {grin}, so today I pulled out one of them to use in the centre of the flower.

Anyway, I was going through my blog and updating the keywords and started reading some old posts, and I have to say some are pretty boring and others pretty interesting...I found my favourite post of my own was last fall, a post about a visit to the farmers market.  I thought I'd ask you to share your favourite post from your blog, if you have one.  If you share a link we can go take a look :-)  

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

Beach days

Today I felt inspired to create a card with another of my new images from CHF, this one is part of the Sarah England line, called Whale Watching.

This reminds me of childhood trips to the beach, we were lucky to grow up near the ocean and get to enjoy views like this in real life, now and then.

The image is lightly coloured with copics, and then the airgun was used for the sky and sand.  

As you can see here in this second picture, a silver gel pen was used to highlight a whale, and I dug out a birds feather to decorate it--a beach is never complete without some birds!


And here is a picture of my family at the beach when I was quite small.  I'm the little one on the right, next to my dad, and my sister is the one hanging on to my grandmother.  My mom must have been taking the photo.

The weekend is almost here, I'll be tidying up the house, and maybe playing a round of golf....oh yes, and hubby has promised to take me out and teach me how to park...hopefully we'll still be together come Monday LOL!  So  what are you up to this weekend?

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...).

Wings of the Butterfly

Hi all,

Today's card was a quick and easy one I made recently with one of my new CHF stamp sets.

When I saw the stamp set I knew it would be good for those times when I needed something pretty and not labour intensive :-)  It's by artist Sarah England.  There are a few more in the set on the way to me (grin!).  It's stamped it in eggplant coloured ink, to match the border piece, and the sparkle is from stickles spread over the wings.  The copic air gun was used to put some colour in the background.  The pearls are a form of edging from the local fabric store.

Well, tomorrow's Friday, and the weekend is almost here!  I hope you all have fun weekend plans, and if you are camping as I was last weekend hopefully there will only be pretty bugs like this one :-)

Believe in Fairytales

Good morning all!  Today I have a fun and whimsical card for you using an image I got from the Paper Jewels store, one of the newer Lisa Victoria Sweet Pea images, called Storytime.

This image captured my heart when I first saw it, I was always a girl who loved fairy tales, and I love the little touches like the dragon holding a teddy bear :-)

I used stickles on the velum with the sentiment and on the fairy wings.  The image is coloured with Copics.  There's Tattered Angels glimmer mist on the background sheet, and the lace on the edge was coloured using my airgun.