I'm Up for Another Challenge

Good Morning Everyone. Here in Burlington the sun is shining but it is still quite cold. We are expecting more spring like weather by mid week. I decided to really dive into challenge mod and I did a card for this week's Friday Sketchers. I loved the sketch and I'm still struggling with flower placement so it was a great one for me. I used a Stampavie image that I just added to my collection. I might use this image for some Mother's Day cards. I think it is quite versatile. I coloured it with my copics and decided not to add any glitter to her wings (in my opinion there is very little that can not be improved with a little bling). I have given myself a personal challenge. We had a terrible flood in the basement and of course in my craft room so I took this as an opportunity to reorganize, and clean out. Thanks goodness for the Memory Keeper's garage sale which is coming up soon because I didn't want to throw anything out but could rationalize giving it a new home and me a credit at the store to spend on more stamps. But back to my personal challenge. I organized all my scrap paper and could not believe how much I had and how great some of the patterns were. So now whenever I make a new card I am only using my scrap paper. Some of the beautiful new paper from the winter CHA is calling out to me and for the most part I ignore it, but I am excited to dig through my containers, sorted by colour, to find papers that coordinate together. For my challenge card I used three different patterned paper and four colours of card stock. I am determined to reduce that paper stash before my DH sees it and asks "Why are you buying more paper?". As I have said before there is a big part of me that is just a collector. Well off to do chores before my new stamps hear me typing this or I will be drawn into a long crafting session and the laundry, and ironing will have to wait for another day. Hope you'll stop by tomorrow when I post a fairy card from Lili of the Valley.

Lili of the Valley Challenge

Still working on the problem of the white square. If I have time tomorrow I will redesign and see if I can remedy that annoying glitch. I have decided to get back into the blog world by entering a challenge over at the Lili of the Valley Blog. The theme is Punch It and I have tried to use as many punches as I could. I used some nestabilities, Martha Stewart, EK Success, Stampin' Up, and Marvey. In all I count 7 different punches. I really had fun with this and I even stepped outside my comfort zone and used a different colour combo. I'm not sure I love the combo but creativity is all about experimenting. I inked up a new Lili of the Valley Image from Set #1 Oh So Girlie that I had not had time to play with. I am really loving these little girls and I am afraid this could result in a whole new collection of cuties. I used copic markers to colour the image and some distress ink (Spiced Marmalade) to complete the shadowing around the image.The pins are from Wild Orchid and the buttons from Stampendous.

Well my little grandson is coming for an afternoon visit so I am off to make cookies. Hope you'll stop back on Monday to see another baby card from the Stampavie collection.

Sweet Baby Cards

Just a quick post today to share two baby cards I did with stamps from Lili of the Valley. It is a simple image which I coloured with copics and then paper pieced the hats. I have collected quite a few new baby stamps and so I will be sharing some of these with you in the coming days. I'm gearing up to enter some challenges, one over at Lili of the Valley, so tomorrow I will post my entry. I'm always hesitant to enter a challenge because the work the stampers present is always so beautiful but I must remember the joy is in the creating. Have a great weekend.

Paper Towel Flower

I'm not sure why my blog has that annoying white box but am working to make it disappear. For today's card I am posting a picture of a very simple card made with a white paper towel. As I said yesterday I used glimmer mist to create some sparkly paper and the extra glimmer mist that was left on my craft mat I cleaned up with a regular household paper towel. It was an awful colour but I let it dry and there before me was a beautiful purple towel shimmering with gold. I'm sure you can not see the total affect in the picture but it does shimmer. I then cut the dry towel into strips. (about 1 to 1 1/2 inches in width) Next I took score tape and put a strip on my craft mat. Removing the white protective covering I now had a sticky strip to work with. I started to pleated the paper towel strip along the score tape until the entire tape was filled with pleated paper towel. I then cut a cardboard circle as my base. Removing the strip from the craft mat I attached it in a circular pattern to the circle. For the centre of the flower I took a circle covered with sticky score tape and another strip and twisted it and then rolled it onto the circle. Twist and roll small pieces at a time until the circle is complete. I then used a jewel for the centre but a brad would work as well. This is a very easy and quick card to make once you have your paper towel ready to go.

Spring is in the air and it is time for babies!! We are excited because my son and his wife are adding to the family in September. In honour of spring and our new little family member I have been playing with baby images and making baby cards. Tomorrow I will post one made with a Lili of the Valley stamp. Enjoy your day and I hope where ever you are the weather feels like spring.

Lili of the Valley Image

As some of you know we had a flood in our basement and yes that is where I do my creating so everything, and I mean everything from the three rooms in the basement got moved to the garage and my living room/dining room. Now four weeks later with all the repairs done everything is back down stairs but still a lot needs to be unpacked. I was having withdrawal pains so I unpacked enough boxes so I could get started creating again and feeding my addiction (I say addiction in a good way because really I do not want to be cured). So here is my card that I made for a friend to send to her granddaughter in Denver. The image is from Lili of the Valleyand I just love her! She just makes me smile. I also have been playing with some new glimmer mist from Tattered Angels and I created the mauve paper from three of the colours (electric blue, silver sugar and Cadillac pink). To create the paper I start with inexpensive Wausau, about 8 cents for a 8 1/2 x 11. I spray with the three colours and then set the paper aside to dry. It will curl and wrinkle but when it is dry I ironed it. I picked up from my craft mat the extra glimmer mist with a paper towel and then when the towel dried I made a flower from it. None of the glimmer mist is wasted. I will post a card tomorrow to show you that flower. They are fun and easy to make. I also used a tag from the Eyelet Outlet that reads "Birthday Girl". Since the card is going through the mail I did not include a lot of 3D embellishments. A little glitter and ribbon and she's done! I'm off to check out the challenge blog at Lili of the Valley because I'm back in the game and ready to participate in the challenges again. Hope to see you soon.

There Are no Excuses but I'm Giving Them Anyway.

I have been absent from my blog for so many months and really I have no real excuse except that the family has been through a quintuple heart by-pass, Christmas, a Caribbean vacation, classes at the store , and shovelling snow, snow and more snow. Reading that last sentence really does sound like a lot of excuses but now I am ready to create again. I am excited to share some new stamp images that I ordered from Lili of the Valley in the UK. It's a great company and the mailing time from the UK to Canada is about 2 weeks and if you order a sufficient quantity there is free shipping. I love when companies offer that and really do I need an excuse to buy more. See I am just full of excuses today or as I like to refer to it---rationalization. Another idea is to get a few friends together and make one order and get the free shipping that way. The quality of the rubber is great and the stamps make clear sharp images.

The card I am sharing today is one I made for a friend who is going in for knee surgery in April. I find it difficult sometimes to find stamps that are suitable for men and a get well message. Flowers seem to work well for women but for men I want something different. The outside says "Smile" and the inside reads "You're on the road to recovery, but a man your age should watch his speed." I coloured the image with my copics and used the following colours:

• Car: E40, 41, 42
• Scarf: BG10, BG13
• Bear: E31, E33, E35
• Hat: E27, E29

On the goggles and the windshield I put some Chrystal Lacquer so they would shine and have some dimension.

Tomorrow some more images from Lili of the Valley!

I'm Back!!!

I know it has been a long time since I posted but things are crazy in this household. Hubby is going in on Monday for a quadruple by pass and we have been going to doctor's appointments and getting things in order. In addition I did a class at the Memory Keeper on Thursday night and I was designing and preparing for a beginner's copic class at the store and a Christmas card class at my house. Yesterday I finally decided I needed to relax and get my mind off of things so I sat down and played for a few hours. Heavenly!!! I can not believe how colouring with my copics gets me into another world. I made a get well card for our niece who also underwent surgery on Wednesday. Annie is doing fine and will be home today. Annie is an amazing artist so I wanted to make a card for someone who is so card-worthy. I used a new Molly Blooms stamp from Sir Stampalot and then decided to try my hand at adding a lot of flowers. At the card class on Thursday Amanda and I were discussing how I just do not seem to add a lot of flowers to my cards. She gave me some great advice. I'm going to share it with all of you. She said "Just go for it. Do not do a lot of planning. Start with your largest flower and go out from there. Glue them down and play as you go." Thanks Amanda. This was my first attempt at this type of grouping and I am feeling OK about it but will want to play some more to work on the technique. The picture does not seem to show how vibrant the colours are so I think I need to check the settings on the camera.

Well I am off to clean the house. I am having a birthday party for my hubby tomorrow. His birthday is Wednesday but I am sure he will not feel up to celebrating then so all the kids are coming and some family members so I really have to get cleaning and cooking.

Hope to post some new Christmas cards for the October class at my home. Really I don't know how I worked before and I am sure my husband must wonder if I ever do anything around the house when he's a work.