Spring Cleaning!

Spring is finally here! Time to put away all the winter clothes, open the windows for some fresh air and wash the windows to get rid of the grime and dust. With spring cleaning on my mind I thought it was a good time to update my blog. I used another free template,this time from The Cutest Blog on the Block.   I will want to personalize it some more but this is a good start.  I might even entice my son to help me customize it as he is good with Photoshop.

I haven't had much time to create and I'm really missing the creative energy that comes from spending a few hours in my craftroom.  Luckily, last night I put everything aside and made a few cards. 

I bought the Graphic 45 Place in Time and French Country paper pads online.  I love the crispness of the paper and the beautiful patterns.  I always hesitate to make the first cut but I will let this simple card speak for itself. 

Recipe: 

Cricut Fabulous Finds for the black frame

Cricut Storybook for the red checkered swirl flower

Cuttlebug Chicken Wire Embossing folder

Twine and button from my stash

 

The next card was made with a number of scraps from DCWV.  I had been wanting to try box pleating paper and it worked perfectly using my scoreboard.

 

Recipe:

Cricut Damask Decor for the 4 layer flower

Pearls, gem and ribbon for embellishment

 

 

Hope you're having some nice weather too and happy spring cleaning!

Happy Birthday Dad!

It's my dear father's birthday on March 11th - he turns 77 years old.  Wishing him a wonderful day!

This card was part of the weekly challenge on the Cricut forum.  It is intended to be a sort of collage card.

Papers - Graphic 45, K&Company and DCWV

Images cut with the Cricut:  Banner, Party Hat, DAD

Stamped using Ranger Archival - black and sepia

Buttons from my stash - over 30 years old

Twine and brads

Thanks for dropping by!

Playing with Metal - Tattered Flowers

Today was a good day to just play in my craftroom and try something new. I had been wanting to try making flowers from old soda pop cans.  Tim Holtz recent post is about using the Tattered flowers die and creating all kinds of flowers using different materials.  He used burlap and tissue paper glued on grunge paper for some great creations and is launching a contest.  It is worth checking out here! 

Here's my finished flower

I started off by cutting the top and bottom off of the soda can.  I used a combination of can opener and the Tim Holtz scissors.  Once done, I simply washed the metal, dried it off and began the project.  I used the Tattered Flowers die with my Big Shot and it cut so easily - only need to pass it through once.

I had LuminArte Silks Acrylic Glaze paints on hand but I wasn't sure if they would adhere to the metal.  I decided to apply a thin coat of gesso and then add my glaze paints.  I used a combination of teal, ginger peach and nutmeg.  Once the paint dried, I used the Tim Holtz textured fade embossing folder on the three flower petals.  Curled the flowers using a small wooden stick and hot glued them together.  A simple, off-white button for the centre.

Having been inspired by Tim Holtz and his spring flowers, i decided to make a Spring-themed card. 

Papers:  K&Company, DCWV

Doily - Tim Holtz die

Cricut - Frames and Birdcage

Pearl embellishment, brad, Stickles in silver and gold

 

The doily was also cut from the soda pop can and painted with Solar Gold and Nutmeg Luminarte glaze.  The frames were cut with my Cricut Expression using Elegant Edges cart and the the birdcage from Straight From the Nest cart.  I simply added a few pearl embellishments, stamped Spring using Ranger archival ink.  Added a bit of Stickles to the birdcage and "Spring"

 

I will be trying some new techniques soon!

 

 

Feeling Like Spring!

It was a cold day today -17 degrees Celsius but with the sun it started to feel like Spring.  I'm looking forward to having the snow melt away and putting away my winter clothes!

During my free time on the weekend,  I experimented with watercolouring with Tim Holtz distress markers and also played with alcohol inks.  I will start today by showing a simple image that was watercoloured. 

Papers: Cold pressed watercolour paper 140 lb 

DCWV Green Stack

K & Company 

 

I used cold pressed watercolouring paper  and cut the basic flower shape using a Spellbinder die.  The image is from an inexpensive stamp from Michaels ($1.50 Cdn).  I coloured the butterfly with Broken China, Faded Jeans and Peeled Paint markers and then added some Stickles to the wing.  The "Spring" frame was coloured in Mustard Seed and I then added a few pearls to the flourish. I then applied Scattered Straw distress ink being careful around the image.  As I was working with the markers, I used a simple round paint brush with a bit of water to blend the colours. It seems to have worked well although I know I can improve with the shading.

I still love my Cricut Expression and the Gypsy for cutting the shapes .  The brown frame was cut using the Elegant Edges cartridge and the green base of the flower is from the Forever Young cartridge. I inked the edges with Vintage Photo.

I added the brads and glued a blue gem on a basic paper clip to add a bit more dimension.

Thanks for dropping by!

Christmas Sleigh

Today was a very productive day as I updated my blog, organized my craftroom (a little bit), did laundry, bought a new Cricut catridge and made a card!

I bought the Pretty Pennants cartridge.  It's not an extensive cartridge but many of my creations have some form of a pennant so I thought it would be nice to add to my collection as I often cut that shape by hand and I'm not always pleased with the final look. 

Before I could design this latest creation, I needed to update my Gypsy and then my Cricut Expression.  I won't get into all of the details but suffice it to say that it did take 2 hours.  Sigh!  In case you don't know, the Gypsy is a handheld device that allows you to work with the images of the various cartridges that you own, scale them to the size that you want and then cut them on your Cricut machine.  It is simple for me and I just love working with it!

So here is my Christmas card.

Papers:  Simple Stories

Cricut: Winter Woodland (sleigh, santa's hat), Elegant Edges (frames)

Pretty Pennants (snowflake pennant)

Spellbinders for scalloped circle frames

Fiskars corner punch

Ribbon - beige silk, brown grosgrain, green checkered

Green ribbon criss-crossed in frame

Small gems and pearl

 

I've been following the Deconstructed Jen for some time now but never took the time to participate in their weekly sketches as I'm often a week or too behind. Happy I could this time and here is the wonderful sketch DS74 that gave me my inspiration!

Thanks for dropping by!  Please leave me a comment about my card or the redesigned look!

Back to cardmaking!

I know I've been remiss in keeping my blog current however I changed careers over the summer and was busy with work and getting my certifications.  So all that is behind me now and I've been able to enjoy my little corner.  If you look under the "Craftroom" tab you'll see that my actual workspace is 11' x 3'.  Small but highly functional!

Here's a birthday card that I made for one of my daughter's friends. 

Papers - Authentique

Happy Birthday - Cricut Paper Lace 2

Crimper for rust border

Buttons from my MIL's stash (probably 50 years old)

 

 

And with Christmas a mere 9 weeks away, here is one of the latest Christmas cards that I made:

 

Papers - Recollections

Cricut - snowflakes, tag and words

MS branch punch

Embossed red tag with snowflake folder

Ribbon and brad

 

 

And lastly, to provide some inspiration for my American friends that are thinking about Thanksgiving, here is a place card that I made for a dinner party. 

 

Papers - unsure

Cricut for the green frame and leaves

Button from MIL's stash

Fiskars Corner Punch

Twine



 



Hope you're enjoying your weekend and I will be back more regularly now!

Thinking of You

Yesterday was a wonderful and special day as my great nephew was born.  I was busy finishing up cards for his parents and grandparents but I can't reveal them here just yet as they haven't received them.

A dear friend has been going through some challenging times so I made a card to cheer her up.  This card is part of the ISpySketches and Crazy4  challenges. For the Crazy4, we need to use 3 flowers, 3 papers, 3 buttons and 3 pearls.

Card recipe

Papers - Vintage Heartwarming Collection

Paper flowers

Silk ribbon, pearl embellishments and buttons

Stamp - Inkadinkado with Colorbox ink

Cricut Elegant Edges for all paper cuts except pink card base



Here is the sketch from ISSC

Thanks for dropping by and I would love to hear your comments!



Challenges
I Spy Sketches - ISSC20
Crazy4 Challenge

Frosty Greetings

So I'm switching gears today from shabby tea to a hot cup of cocoa.  I'm playing along at Merry Monday and I've made another Christmas card - #37 for me, to be exact.

Card recipe

Papers - Fancy Pants Winterland and kraft

Cricut - Joys of the Season (mug) and Speaking of Winter (snowflake)

Crimper used on polka dot paper

Fiskars border punch

Distressed Broken China and Inkadinkado stamp

I've kept this card fairly simple. I used my crimper that's been sitting in the bottom of my drawer to give the allusion of the coffee cup sleeve.

Here's the wonderful sketch from Merry Monday

Thanks for dropping by and I always appreciate hearing from you!

Challenge: Always Playing with Paper - Merry Monday #24 Frosty Greetings

Tea time!

I decided to play along again at The Shabby Tea Room for this week's Shabby Beautiful challenge.  I will also be entering my card in the Mojo Monday challenge.  I've re-read the rules for TSTR as I don't think that my hot air balloon card for last week's Sweet Summer quite followed them as I didn't get any feedback.  I used the colours as an inspiration and not really the image.  Oops!  Oh well, the card turned out well and it's all part of the learning process.

So here is my card:

Card recipe

Papers Heartwarming Vintage Collection and Mind's Eye Lost and Found

Cricut - Everyday Paper dolls for teacups and Elegant cakes for aqua doily

Distressing and stitching on rounded rectangular pieces

Button, seam binding, pearls, flower, green ribbon and lace

Gold Stickles ont teacups

And the photo inspiration with the instructions to use aqua, pink, neutrals and flowers and make it shabby!



And lastly the sketch from Mojo Monday

Thanks for dropping by and I always appreciate hearing from you!

Challenges

The Shabby Tea Room Week 118 Shabby Beautiful

Mojo Monday 245

Butterfly Girl

Happy Sunday everyone!  I hope you have wonderful plans to relax today.  I'm able to do as I please as unfortunately all of the members of my family are working today.  I was up bright and early at 4:55 am and so I had plenty of time to enjoy my coffee and make this card.

I had started some of it yesterday by stamping the middle part as I wanted to experiment with watercolouring using distressed ink.  I watched a few videos on Youtube but unfortunately I didn't bookmark them so I can't share the link with you.  It's a very simple technique that simply involves applying distress ink to an acrylic block then either use a waterfillable brush or paintbrush dipped in water.  I did the latter as I hand everything on hand.

Then today my inspiration for the Butterfly Girl was a stamp from Sam Poole at Creative Studios.  She has a wonderful set called Artful ladies and Sam has produced so many amazing cards.  Here's a link to the stamps and from there you can browse her blog.   I made my butterfly girl with the Cricut Expression using the Rock Princess cartridge.  I altered the image using the Gypsy to do away with the microphone and have two symetrical arms.

I then chose some soft papers from the Heatwarming Vintage Collection and Webster's pages.  Finally added a piece of ric rac and then a flower that I had recently made out of ribbon.

Enjoy your day and I would love to hear your comments!

Birthday Hot Air Balloon

It's midweek and the sun is shining after several days of rain!  I'm taking part in the Shabby Tea Room Sweet Summer Challenge and what better way with a hot air balloon ride!  For colours we needed to use Aqua or Teal, pink and brown.  Look closely at the pink doily and you'll find some yummy cupcakes!

Card recipe

Papers - DCWV Sweet Treats and My Mind's Eye Lost & Found

Tim Holtz doily and Cricut Elegant Edges

Inkadinkado stamp

Silk ribbon, seam binding, lace

Brads, gemstones, beads, pearls and feather

This particular card was a labour of love as I started off by box pleating the ribbon to make the flowers.  It's a little bit time consuming but you get such wonderful results.  I used the Tim Holtz doily die and the Cricut Elegant Edges for the frames of the hot air balloon.  I inked the hot air balloon stamp with Walnut Distress and Broken China.  The bow was made with seam binding from my MIL's stash - pretty old stuff but so pretty for this card!  I made the stick pin with a few pearls and beads and thought the feather worked well.  I added a vintage button with a bit of lace trim.   A few aqua gemstones to finish it off.

This card is for a special person who is sure to love and treasure it!

Here is the photo inspiration for this card:

Have a great day and thanks for dropping by!  I would love to hear your comments!

Just A Note...

It's Monday and I get to ease into the work week.  I worked on this card last night and finished it this morning.  For the sketch, I'm playing along with the I Spy Sketches Challenge #18 and the elements are part of the Repeat Impressions Designer Choice Challenge 523 where we need to have a Stamped Image, Embossing, and Diecut or Punch.

Card recipe

Papers - My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Market Street, K&Company Que Sera Sera

Stamped Flowers - Inkadinkado Flashy Floral, Just A Note

Tim Holtz butterfly embossing folder and distressed folder for watering can

Tim Holtz distressed ink Victorian Violet and Black Soot

Spellbinders Petite Scallop circle and Circle punch

Cricut Stretch Your Imagination for watering can

Versafine black ink and acid free markers

Gems and pearl embellishments, buttons from stash and embroidery floss

This is the first time that I coloured an image.  I wanted to give it a try before I look into purchasing some Copics.    I can see how much fun it would be so it's time for me to look into tutorials on Copics.  If you have any suggestions, please leave me a comment!

Here is the sketch from I Spy Sketches, I made my design on the landscape.

Thanks for dropping by and I would love to hear your feedback on this card!



Challenges:
I Spy Sketches -  ISSC18
Repeat Impressions DCC523

Adestes Fideles - Classic Christmas song

I'm joining in again on the Jingle Belles challenge and this week we need to incorporate Christmas music.  I've also decided to play along with CardPatterns and use their sketch for my card.

There are so many wonderful songs that it was hard to choose the right one.  I picked Adestes Fideles, one of my all-time favourites, and printed off the music sheet on cream cardstock.  I then cut it with the Tim Holtz doily die.  I used my Cricut and cut the angel from the Christmas cartridge.  This was after doing a Nativity scene that I just didn't like.  Sometimes we have an idea and we visualize it but it doesn't always turn out on paper.  Luckily, like most of you, my papers were all on sale so I'm only wasting pennies.

I then tried to create the rectangle piece from the sketch and as I was looking through my paper stacks, I found the "Peace, Love, Joy" from Simple Stories.  So with the card almost complete, I stumbled upon the perfect background from the DCWV Christmas stack.  I added a few pearls, gem stones and ribbon and voilà my card was complete.  It did take a few hours from start to finish but it was a nice way to spend a few hours on a rainy Sunday.

Here is the sketch that I followed from CardPatterns

Thanks so much for dropping by and I always appreciate your comments!

Be Merry Snowman

Wow! What a productive day!  It's been raining here and my household chores are done so I've had some fun in my craftroom.  Here's the third card for today.  This one for the Merry Monday Warm and Cozy challenge which I haven't played along with in the past few weeks.  I need to count but I think this is Christmas card number 31 for me - woohoo!

Card recipe

Papers Graphic 45 and Anna Collins

Cricut - Winter Frolic for the snowman

Metal tree and star brad

Cuttlebug Snowflake folder

Walnut distress and Versafine black ink

And here is the Sketch from Merry Monday



Thanks for dropping by and I hope you're making progress on your Christmas cards too!



A day at the beach

It's still Spring here but I made this card for my SIL who lives in Italy and loves to take her children to the beach.  I made it as part of this week's RAQ Challenge on the Cricut forum and also to submit to My Sheri Crafts Summer Challenge. 

Card recipe

Papers - DCWV Songbird, Bazzill, clear acetate

Sew Easy for the piercing for the stitching

Cricut A Child's Year, Elegant Edges, Stretch Your Imagination

Embellishments: Brads, buttons, pearl and photo corner

Versafine ink for "Just Saying Hello"

I started the design with a port hole and then just chose the elements from my Cricut cartridges.  It's the first time that I've used the Sew Easy that I bought over a year ago.  It's not the "easiest" tool to use on heavy cardstock but it does add a nice touch!

Enjoy your day and thanks for dropping by!

Birdcage Thank You Card - Honorable Mention

It looks like the nice weather is finally here to stay with us.  We'll be planting our flower and vegetable gardens soon!

I joined The Shabby Tea Week #114 Beautifully Shaped challenge for this week to create a shaped card. 

I'm pleased that my card was selected as one of the 10 honorable mention cups of tea.  Thanks to the selection team!

Cardstock - Ivory Staples #110

DCWV Glitter

DCWV The Sweet Stack

Using one of my new Cricut carts, Straight from the Nest, I formed the base of the card by welding two birdcages together (using the hide feature to remove the bars of the cage).  I then made 2 more cuts of the birdcage - one in blue and one in pink (again using the hide feature). 

From there, I just let my inspiration take over and...I created the grunge flower, made 2 stick pins, glued yellow and blue ribbon together, cut a doily cut from Elegant Cakes and layered all of that together.  Then I added a blue ribbon to look like the birdcage hanging loop and cut the word "Thanks" from Winter Woodland. 

Here were the colour inspirations for this challenge

Thanks for dropping by today!  I appreciate your comments!

Caroling in May

I do realize that Mother's Day will soon be upon us but the weather is cool so I'm continuing to make Christmas cards.  This one is for Jingle Belles and Repeat Impressions challenges. 

The sketch from Repeat Impressions is as follows

For Jingle Belles, we were encouraged to add embossing..."dry embossing, heat embossing, or even textured or embossed papers ... whatever you can do to add a little texture to your holiday project."

Here's what I created

Card recipe:

The black stamped images - Versafine with clear embossing powder then heated

Cuddlebug Snowflake embossing folder for the large white frame, added Glimmer mist

Cuddlebug Polka Dot folder for the blue caroler's coat

Cricut - Winter Frolic for carolers, Ornamental Iron 2 for red and white frames

Embellishments Skittles and pearls, chalk for cheeks, Peachy Keen for faces

Thanks for stopping by!  I love to hear your comments.



Challenges:
Jingle Belles JB10-12 - Embossing around the Tree
Repeat Impressions M212

Would you join me for a cup of tea?

I had some free time this afternoon so I decided to play in my craftroom.  I was inspired to make a card while thinking about some dear friends and after looking at a number of different blogs and challenges.

Here is what I created and happily it meets the requirements of three challenges. All of the cuts were made using my Cricut.   I needed to line up my paper exactly on the Cricut mat to achieve a "Royal Doulton" fine china pattern but I think I succeeded.

Card Recipe:

Papers - Kraft cardstock for base, Fancy Pants for pink base,

K&Company Blue pattern, Lost & Found for teacup, Recollections for solids

Cricut - Elegant Edges for all cuts except teacup which was A Child's Year

Pearls and gold Stickles for embellishments

Ink - Distress Broken China

For the sketch design - I Spy Sketches

Colours including having a rose The Shabby Tea Room 

And lastly, using Kraft cardstock for the Kraft Journal Make it Monday challenge with the theme being "Card for Her".

Hope you'll join me and have a cup of tea with your dear friends soon!