A Big Hug

Very quick post!  Did a little stamping and experimented with my new MFT rolled roses & dizzy border dies.  Love them!  I'll definitely be using these in many more cards to come.

I love this new paper by American Crafts.  This one is called Peachy Keen "My Darling".  The bit of green DP is from my stash and I don't have it clue what it is.  I used PTI Sweet Blush Luxe Satin ribbon under the dizzy border & even tried my bow-easy for the first time.  It took a few tries, but I got there in the end (why is it called "Easy"?)

Sentiment is from a cute little clear set from Stampendous called "Sincere Sentiments".  What a great set this is - really sweet down-to-earth and straight-from-the-heart sentiments.

The inside:

Well that's me done for this evening!  Onto finishing up some housework & laundry.  You'll notice where my priorities lie and what I managed to accomplish first - LOL!

A New Artist on the Stamping Scene???

Must show you some new art work made by the daughter of my dear friend Gabriela (Gabi with an Eye).  She's multi-talented in many areas... piano, swimming... the list goes on!... but she also loves to draw (especially cats!!).  My siamese cat Bailey (who incidently will be 20 years old in November)... was an unknown subject for Madisen and I was thrilled to see what she had drawn.  I immediately made a card for her using her image:

I didn't even have to colour it - she did that as well!!  So as you can see my little Bailey-miester is at the far right with a very "I'm not so sure about you two" look on his face.  So she even captured his personality!! 

Here's the inside:

Because I made this card for Madisen to surprise her with her own artwork in a card... I wanted to put a personal message for her on the inside, "You're destined for greatness" just about sums it up for this amazing young teenager.

Now I learn this morning that her Mum Gabriela has created several cards using this image as well.  You must check them out here!!  And of course you should visit Madisen herself here!!  (Be sure to also see her animations as well - unbelieveable!)

It was fun sharing this today - hope you all enjoying your weekend.  We have beautiful sun shining days here in Kingston and no more snow!!  Wishing you the same. 

Heart & Soul

Well happy Saturday to you all.  Just popping in quickly with another Just Rite card.  I used an embossing folder by Crafts Too on the Whisper White cardstock.  I really like the affect.  With cards that have minimal colour, I like to add another dimension or texture just to make it a little more interesting. 

The ribbon is PTI & SU, DP is Little Yellow Bicycle. Spellbinder oval & square & MFT border edge.  Oh - and of course Martha Stewart edge punch too. 

I used Verve on the inside:

I have such a busy day planned but my goal is to get back home and try another Just Rite card.  Pouring rain & cold here today - hope you have sunshine!!  =)

Feelin' Just Rite!

I received my Stamper's Dream blog candy & order in the mail and had to try a card right away!  This is my first try with these stamps and they are more then just rite - they are just fantastic! 

I used the Thinking of You set as well as Kindness for this one:

Those cling stamps are a dream as well!!  Oh - and speaking of dreams.. Stamper's Dream... I want to thank Michelle Rodgers very much for the wonderful blog candy that I won and received in the mail.  What a dream she is to deal with!!  And I love every last bit of it.  (Love candy that has no calories...)

Sentiment on the inside is from Verve, pattern paper from Basic Grey Marjolaine. 

I have a sneaky feeling my next few cards will Just Rite.  =)

Saved by Flowers & Lace...

Ever make a card that you're just not happy with, so you set it aside?  You don't hate it quite enough to can it, but it just doesn't seem worth finishing at the time?  Well that's what happened with this one.   Made this one a while ago and it got pushed aside & forgotten.

Well I didn't really feel like doing anything when I walked into my craft room.  I was just sort of walking around in a stuffy-head-cold-daze.  Went in, plopped down & picked it up and thought.... if I distress the edges a bit, add a bit of lace and flowers & low-and-behold I liked it again! 

This is one of my most favorite Mo Manning images.

If I remember correctly I think the patterned paper is MME.  Aren't those little sheer ribbon flowers pretty?  My friend Gabriela sent them to me a while ago and I've been hording them until now.  I added a bit of sparkle to her slippers and to the leaves under the rolled flower.

The inside sentiment is from SU, I thought it paired nicely with the image. 

Well that's it from me.  This weekend was a bit of a bust - missed all my "weekend favs" like Saturday morning coffee with the family at Tim Horton's and 2 visits with my nieces.  Can't risk letting them get sick.  I've slept most of today away, no laundry or housework done... but my parents delivered groceries which was really nice!  I can live without certain things... but my 19 year old Siamese cat Bailey is not about to go without.  Thank goodness for them or I would have had to go out.

Well I've rambled on enough - going stir crazy and desperate for a chat I guess - lol. 

Have a great week all!
Carla.

Irish Blessing

I found this wonderful free digital image at Waltzing Mouse Stamps HERE.  I love it - what a fantastic image for St. Patrick's Day!  Or even to just wish someone good luck. 

I coloured with Copics & SU's Certainly Celery with Little Yellow Bicycle background paper.  Both EK Success & Martha edge punches were used.  The felt rolled flower was an afterthought as was the bit of glitter to the shamrocks.  (Real shamrocks have glitter, don't they?  lol)

I kept the inside simple.  I'm certainly going to try a few more cards with this beautiful shamrock bouquet.  But before that... I'm going to try something else that's green.  A NeoCitran.  =)

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone.

Dance

This is one of my all-time favorite images from Mo Manning.  Isn't she sweet?  After colouring her with copics, I layered the image with a scrap of Basic Grey cut out with my Nestibilities Labels 8 die.  I added the largest Fancy Tags die directly beneath her... just to add a little extra pizzaz (not that she needed it).

I love this paper from American Crafts (Dear Lizzie).  I bought it ages ago and forgot I had it.

Here's the inside with a quote from Verve....

Well I'm so glad the weekend it here, but unfortuately I'm sick with a dreaded head cold.  Time to get caught up on some DVR shows!!  Have a wonderful weekend everyone - thanks for stopping by!  =)

Within Your Heart

Was on a cleaning binge and left the craft room for last.  As I approached the desk with dusters & broom tucked under one arm, I thought, "hey... all those scraps would look cute together in a card".  1.5 hrs later, all scraps from last weeks cards sewn together for a new card.  And the room is still a bomb.

I added my new Martha Stewart ribbon I bought on clearance yesterday at Michaels - I hope there's more left - wow it's gorgeous stuff & ties beautifully. 

Probably difficult to see but I added glitter to the dress, eyeshadow & hair bow using a glue pen and tiny dots.  Sentiment from Verve.

Kept the inside fairly simple and used up the rest of the scraps.

Well......... that was fun, but back to cleaning!!  Wish me luck this time.  =)

Head Start on Easter

Made an Easter card for a very good friend to give her Mom.  I had just bought the Everlasting Life set from Verve recently and it was the excuse I needed to try it out!

This pretty pretty paper from Tres Jolie I've all but completely covered.  I always do that when I'm fussying so much. 

I used two MFT dies (border & rolled flower) & two spellbinders nestibilities (large oval & labels 5).  The flower under the rolled flower is a Martha punch.  Other then that, a little bit of sewing, lace, velvet ric rac & pale yellow sheer ribbon... and of course lots of pearls!  =)

Here's the inside:

I love the spellbinder cross collection - so pretty & easy peasy to work with.  It will be great to make more Easter cards using these dies and that gorgeous Verve set.  And the entire weekend ahead of me........ oh yeah!

Have a lovely weekend ALL!

Another Music Card

Can you handle another music card?  I love this set from MFT!

I tried to stay with the antique-y-feel of the old record player and thought a little lace could add to that.  I stamped the image in SU Choc Chip & Always Artichoke.  I used Sizzix die Corner Flourish #2 (cut into pieces & assembled) for the base of the rolled flowers and added glitter to both the flourishes & the little fern leaves.  Lastly, I glittered up the small Martha Stewart butterfly & added the MFT border punch.  By the way, I absolutely love these dies from MFT - they cut beautifully. 

The Sizzix die as "uncut"... is as it appears on the inside.  It's my first Sizzix die I've ever tried - and I love it!

Well that's it from me!  I have to say it really is so nice being back in blog land... thanks for all of your encouraging comments - means a lot!  =)

A Musical Thankyou

Hey bloggettes!!  Happy Valentines Day to you all... I suppose it would only make sense I would pop in today with a Valentine card.... but no such luck.  =)

I had a request to make a thank you card with a musical theme. 

I thought I would try this Bo Bunny paper, which is a little out of my comfort zone for colour but I was happy with it in the end.  I placed a single dew drop on the center of this old style record player (image from MFT) and used a combination of spellbinders (Fancy Tags, Classic Ovals, Nestibilities Labels 10) to frame the image.  I love this beautiful ribbon I found at my local stamp store!!

The inside:

I used to have a stamp with this sentiment on it (I believe it was SU!) but after looking high & low I resorted to the printer and a nice font.  =)

Well I've taken the day off work so I have a big card-making day planned.  Have a wonderful Valentine's Day with whomever you're with... and wherever you are! 

Times Does Not Change Us

Yesterday, with my Michael's 50% off coupon... I bought the Martha Stewart jumbo monarch butterfly trim punch and raced home to try it out.  I usually try the punches out in the parking lot and all my receipts from Michael's usually have a design in them or are half missing... lol... but this time I just went straight home and starting playin'.

Naturally I had to dig out all my butterfly "stuff" and coloured up my favorite Stampin Up! butterfly with Copics.   I also used my new Cuttlebug embossing folder - I think it's called Victorian - it leaves a great impression - I just love it.  Can't remember the name of this patterned paper, it's the last of it's kind in my stash.  Hey - I just realized I didn't use ANY brown in this card... that might be a first for me.  =)

I love the deep richness of this Cherry Cobbler SU cardstock... Christmas and Valentine's has really depleted my supply.  =)

Happy Sunday everyone! 

Thank You

My brother asked me to make a card for my parents expressing his gratitude for all they have done for him.  This was for the eve of his wedding, so this is what I came up with. 

For some reason, the lighting on this picture is terrible... AND there's no colour - so you'll need to squint!  I started out wanting to do something with white & cream monotone, but stumbled across Sahara Sand (the cardstock... not the desert...) when reaching for Very Vanilla (the cardstock... not the icecream). 

I decided to try and "channel" (LOL!) Becca Fekken and her lovely flowy flourishy (are those real words?) style... so how I did this without ribbon I'll never know.

Sentiments inside and out are both from Verve (because they rock!).  I propted the inside message up with dimensionals and added a bit of Always Artichoke to the leaves when inking. 

And last but certainly not least, I don't think my brother would mind me posting a picture of him and his new bride.  I think they're such a cute couple and pretty picgtures can only improve my blog - right??  lol

Happy Saturday y'all!!

My Heart is Yours

So happy to get another Valentine done this evening.  Made this one for a friend to give his girlfriend (their first Valentine's Day together) so I hope he likes it.

I was happy to finally play with my new spellbinder heart die set and my new MFT border die & rolled flower die.  Yeah - love new toys! 

The inside is fairly simple, wording is from the same Verve set as the front and the paper is from American Crafts... it may be hard to see in the picture but it's actually a "salmon" colour.

Well that's it for me.  Had a lovely day off and looking forward to the rest of the weekend.  Hope you all have a lovely one too!

With Sympathy

We've all had occasion of needing to make a sympathy card... it's not easy, is it? I think from now on, I'm going ot make a point of having some on hand, because I find the whole process kind of daunting... especially when I know the friend who has suffered the loss.

I mean, you just want it to be right, but the image, colours & glitter hardly matter in the end. It's just that you thought of them I guess.

I dug out one of my old favs from SU - this beautiful stipple rose and I coloured it up with my copics. I coloured extra roses and added them with foam tape and added a little glitter for a bit of a frosted look.

On the inside is a sentiment from Verve. You can always rely on Verve for just the right thing to say... in a beautiful font. How can a stamper ask for anything more??????? =)

I Won!!!

OMG - I actually won the Stampers Dream prize!! I can't believe it - I'm so excited!!!!!! Just look at this amazing package...........


Can't wait to get my hands on all of these goodies. I'm just beside myself with excitement!!!

And all I was going to post today was a Valentine Card - LOL!

I made this for a friend to give her (french-speaking) husband. I thought I would do the words on the computer to personalize it a little for her. So no stamps were dirtied in the making of this card.... also I just copied a layout from a previous post so it was super quick too.

This fun paper is from My Mind's Eye (Lush). I love that it's not a primary colour red, but it's rich and deep - it's gorgeous.

Well that's it for me......... I'm off to have a Stamper's Dream about all my new goodies!!

Courage

Spellbinders just never get old, eh? I can't wait until my new bundle from the new release arrive in the mail. With each new spellbinder you add to your collection, it just brings new life to the ones in your stash.

On this card I used Labels 13, Floral Accents & Classic Rectangles. Sentiment is from a gorgeous Verve set. I added the Martha Stewart punch in Close to Cocoa (because I'm on my usual "brown" kick). Finished up with a little bling, SU satin ribbon and this time I made my rolled flower a little looser. Can't remember the name of the pale blue background paper... it's been in storage as long as my skinny jeans - lol.

Back tomorrow with a Valentine. xox

A Great Teacher

I received a request to make a card for a male teacher as a thank you. As many of you know, making a masculine card is like having your hands tied behind your back or something.... I mean, no flowers, no ribbon, no cutzie little pearls or bling? I mean... what the heck is left?


So I admit I snuck a little of all of those "forbiddens" on this card, but I'm hoping the note paper background, the shades of brown and the scripted patterned paper are enough to "man this up". I love the quote ... another great stamp from Quietfire Designs.


The inside I kept very simple and carried the note-paper theme through. The stamp is from a beautiful Verve set called A Happy Hello.


Well that's it for me tonight. One more day of work to go! If you look really hard... you can see the weekend from here. Oh yeah!

Basic Grey Marjolaine

Snow Day = PJ's, coffee & Basic Grey Marjolaine. {{sigh}}


Made 2 cards from this gorgeous paper this afternoon. In this first one I made a frame with the S/Binders Label 13 - I need to do this more often, I just love the affect. I glittered up the rolled flower & Martha butterfly.


In the second one, I used an old SU stamp for the wording because I needed something teeny-tiny... and the flowers are from Verve.


Well I've procrastinated long enough......... I must go and try to dig out my car. Any such thing as two snow days in a row? LOL Naw... didn't think so. =)

Kind Words...

Back with another "quote card". No surprise I know... luvs me quotes-ha! This beautiful quote from Mother Teresa is by Verve.

The sentiment on the inside is also from the same set:

I just in the mood to "make something pretty". You know... all flow-y and soft... haha. Added a bunch of pearls to this and sponged the edges on most of it. Used my very last piece of cream silk ribbon. Martha's butterfly was added as a last minute thought.

We're expected to get hit quite hard with a storm tonight so fingers (and toes) crossed that the roads will be okay for the morning drive.

Your Friendship Warms My Heart

A very beautiful quote stamp I bought a while ago from Quietfire Design. I love the beautiful calligraphy of all their stamps and they are such a pleasure to work with.


I decided to make a bit of a friendship Valentine although it can be used at anytime, not just on February 14th.

I printed off more of the sheet music I found on-line onto my all-time favorite SU Baja-Breeze. Man I love that stuff!! I added a little sponging around the edges and a bit of crazy sewing (no, I wasn't drinking........lol) because I thought matched well with the frayed edges.

Another rolled flower (addicted now.... guilty as charged) and a few leaf springs from Martha Stewarts punch. And.... a bit of May Arts polka dot ribbon... just because I love it. The heart punch is also Martha.

The inside sentiment "your friendship warms my heart" is from a Hero Arts Valentine sentiment set.

Well I must say I don't think I've ever posted so regularly... this can only mean one thing: My house is a mess. =0)

Enjoy your week!!

Carla.

With All My Love. With All My Heart

Another little Valentine. The stamps are from Verve... "can I just say how much I freakin love VERVE??!!!"


This time I tried my little rolled flower with some coarse glitter added to the top. It really gave it a lovely affect and seems to add a little more romance to the card... or is that just me being tired and slightly delirious... lol...I dunno.

The inside...........

Well, I don't actually having a Valentine myself .... so I won't be making a whole bunch more... except of course for my Dad and my brother.

Wait...... did I just seriously post two days in a row? What the heck is up with that?!! LOL!

HAPPY SUNDAY ALL!

HAPPINESS

Another little challenge with Gabriella to use this sweet little Mo Manning image. I thought this quote stamp (Verve) & paper from Bella Blvd (that I've been hoarding) matched well with it.

I added Baja Breeze cardstock at the bottom, did a little sewing with the layers, added Martha Stewarts fench edge punch, a few buttons, a little ribbon and all done.

"Happiness is found along the way - not at the end of the road." Isn't that quote so true?

Now head on over to see Gabi with an Eye ...you'll love the music & you'll stay for her beautiful cards!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Carla.

Musical Valentine

Hello Bloggettes! Just dropping in to post a Valentine Card that I did as a request for someone who wanted a music theme and the words "You are My Love Song".

I've been dying to try one of the rolled flowers and I love it! I just cut a circle with my spellbinder die, made a spiral and rolled 'er up... then added the little dew drop trio to the center. So fun & easy.

I didn't have any music cardstock ("Jingle Bells" was my only choice...lol) and no musical stamps so I went searching on the internet for sheet music. It took a while, but I finally found something that I could print on some lightly patterned paper and then I embossed with a cuttlebug folder.

I finished the inside with a little more of the music theme.

My first Valentine card done for the year. I'm way ahead! (who knew?)

Happy 2011

A very happy (and belated) Happy New Year to all my stamping buds! Thought I would actually post a card today... will wonders never cease???? Guess I haven't been the definition of consistent since I started up my little blog... at least I know I can't get fired! LOL

In this card I used one of Verve's stamps - I just love it. It's probably overkill on the embellishments, etc... but it's been a while and I just wanted to use everything in my craft room, heh, heh.

So nothing too tricky or weird & wonderful here -- just some sponging, sewing, a few spellbinders, my new Martha leaf edge punch, a little ribbon & a flower. Badda boom, badda bing.

That's it for me today. Hope everyone had a really wonderful relaxing Christmas holiday. Looking forward to all the new cards that will spring from 2011... mine & yours!