Tilda's Ready for Trick or Treating

I know it is hard to believe but I have started playing with my Halloween stamps. I pulled out this Tilda from last year and coloured her with my copic markers. You can not see in the picture but I pop dotted the pumpkin to give it some dimension and used the Magnolia spider peeking out from inside the card. My local scrapbook store, The Memory Keeper, just got in some new Studio G cards and of course I bought a few (honest just a couple of different ones) and put together this cute Halloween greeting. I still haven't received my order for some additional Halloween Edwins and I'm getting mighty anxious for them to join my collection. By the time the new Halloween Maggies get released and we get them into our local stores or by post it is almost too late for me to make my cards so I am usually one year behind with my Halloween images. As I said before, it is one of my favourite "holidays" and I love to decorate and send spooking greetings to all the little goblins I know. A few big goblins too!

I am off this evening to teach a class using distress inks to create backgrounds and I know everyone is going to do a great job experimenting with the different colours from the Tim Holtz line. Next week I'm off to CHA and I am excited to see what some of my favourite stamp companies have in store for the next season and of course Christmas. I hope to do some blogging from Chicago and send some pictures of all the gals going. Road Trip!!!

Happy Stamping and hugs to all.

Love Those Distress Ink Backgrounds

I'm still having fun playing with my distress inks and I think they are de-stressing me! I love to play with the colours. I usually choose the image I want to stamp and then decide which colours would look good for that stamp. This stamp is from Impression Obsessions and I just love the look of it. I used the Ranger Distress Inks in Faded Jeans, Weather Wood, Brushed Corduroy, and Fired Brick. I stamped the image in Walnut Stain. The patterned paper is by Basic Grey and I embossed it using two different Cuttlebug Embossing folders and matted all with a copper metallic paper. I think it is a versatile card and could be used for so many different occasions. A very simple card to make but I think it has some impact.

OK I know it is early but I am excited about Halloween. That's right Halloween. I have to confess one of my favourite "holidays" and I really think everyone should be sending spooky wishes to family and friends. My local scrapbook store The Memory Keeper in Hamilton just got in some Studio G stamps and cards with a Halloween theme. I only bought a FEW! Really I was very good. I have some Magnolia Halloween stamps on order and I am waiting for them to arrive along with some new Cornish Heritage Farm stamps. Every time I see the mail carrier go by without leaving a package I am so disappointed. Maybe I will have to lure him to my mail box. How I will do this I do not know because believe me I lost the knack to attract men years ago and I don't like to cook or bake. I'll just have to be patient.

Look for some Halloween soon Have a stamping great week. Cheers

I'm Up for the Challenge

Well I am getting back into the stamping mode after a short break. I was really in a funk but it has passed (I hope) and I have spent the day with my stamps and a happy heart. I came across the great blog of Angie Hunt and she is sponsoring a blog challenge and some great blog candy. When I saw the picture of the distress inks I was reminded that I love to experiment with these inks and would love to win this great prize. I decided to play along since the challenge involved the colours red and brown which I happen to like a lot. I used a Stamping Bella Mo Manning image and a sentiment that reads "A Happy Birthday is Always in Fashion." Some stripes, some dots, and kraft paper and Voila an easel card for the challenge.

Also through the Magnolious group I found a tutorial for a four drawer attachment to an easel card and so I decided to combine them both. I have completed the card and now I am going to attempt the box attachment but I need to get some paper. I should really whisper that because my DH would probably have a stroke if he heard that. Really do we really need more paper? NO! but we WANT more paper!!! I am convinced that every scrap booker and card maker is just a collector and probably collects something else like oil lamps, antique crocks or teddy bears. I know you are nodding your heads yes!. Well off to find paper to complete my projects.

Photo cards

Well I've been unable to post for some time but finally today I am ready to put up a few new cards. I have been experimenting with some new card designs using photographs in sepia tones to get that vintage look. The one I posted here is for David. The outside of the card reads "A picture is worth a thousand words" and the inside sentiment says"In this case none of them good!" The picture I used is from 1955 and features him dressed like a cowboy. I know he will appreciate this uniquely designed card for his 60th birthday. Luckily I was able to crop myself out of the picture since I am dressed like Elmer Fudd. What were we thinking?

I have used Bo Bunny paper and a small camera charm. I layered several papers and using a craft knife slit some of the designer paper so I could slip the picture under it like a photo corner. It was fun to design and of course made with tons of love for a special guy. Happy Birthday David!

Tomorrow I will post for a challenge using red and brown. Love that combination of colours so I am very excited to get out some new stamps and my copics and go to it. It's been so long since I coloured I am looking forward to it! Hope your week is great. Hugs to all.

INKY ANTICS

This is another of the Christmas in July cards I am doing for my class. The image is from Inky Antics and I coloured it with my copic markers. I experimented with a new colour combination for the dress and I am pleased with the results. The colours were E00, E01 and E04. I'm not sure how accurate the picture is but in reality it is a soft peachy colour. I think the image is quite versatile and could be used for birthdays and other occasions.

Today I really have to clean out my frig (AKA the science experiment) and do some grocery shopping. Tomorrow is Canada Day and we are having a BBQ. What I really want to do is play with a new stamp I got yesterday from Crafter's Companion. It is a Popcorn Bear Kid birthday celebration and I think he is adorable. The other image is of the bear in a baby pram and he is also adorable. Thankfully my friend Brenda bought that one and we are really good at sharing!

I'll post next week the time and place for my Christmas in July class. I hope some of you can make it. Happy Canada Day to all us Canadians and Happy 4th for all our American friends.

Girlfriends!!!!

Here is one of the cards I made with my new girlfriends stamps from Art Impressions. The image comes with three sayings all of which make me chuckle. For this card I used the Happy Birthday tutu you for the outside and the inside says "Dance like no one's watching who can have you committed." Teh Teh!! The other saying is so perfect for a card for my neice. The saying reads "Note to self...too much tequilla." I just know I am going to have fun with this one.

I have to admit this was a bit tricky to colour with my copics because some of the spaces are very tiny. To acheive some shading I used the tip to tip method. But on the positive side if you want to practice shading skin this image is great. For the skin I used E50, E41 and R20. I like the look of those three colour with these gals.

Well I am off for a day of scrapbooking with my scrappin' buddies and I am working on a page for my grandson's third birthday. Happy crafting everyone.

Christmas in July is Here

Well I said I would be posting some Christmas cards for a class in July and here are the first two. I do enjoy the whimsical stamps so I used one of the Penny Black hedgehogs and added some paper die cuts from the Silhouette. The image is coloured with copic markers. I will admit this card is a little picky to make with all the gluing of the die cut pieces but I think they add dimension to the card. I can honestly say I will not be making many of these to send but it will be fun to do three or four for some special people.

The second card is a more elegant and much easier to make. I used distress inks to create the background paper. The ink colours are bundled sage, peeled paint, vintage photo and spiced marmalade. I then stamped the image twice with peeled paint and used perfect pearls in copper to complete the image. The image is from Impression Obsession. Yes I have a confession to make. I went to Exeter through London and stopped at one of my favourite stamp shops and picked up a few new stamps. Really some of them are so bold they jumped right into my shopping basket and of course I couldn't disappoint them so I brought them home with me to join all the others. I have been having fun playing with my new images and I will upload one tomorrow. It is from Art Impressions and features their new girlfriends line. They are a hoot and have great sayings with them.

My great niece's graduation was wonderful and I am proud to say she won the citizenship award. She was so surprised but very happy. Congratulations Katie!! She looked beautiful and now I am going to start on making her a special scrapbook to record all the memories. Oh boy some pink paper is coming my way!