A Special Celebration Fairy

Hi folks,

So - how many of you out there have heard of Alyce Keegan and her site Kit and Clowder? It's a phenomenal site for anyone interested in honing their colouring skills.

If you haven't already checked out the Kit and Clowder Facebook Group, you should! Alyce is celebrating 2000 members in the group this weekend. As part of the celebration, The Stamping Chef created a special image that is available for the month of June at a special reduced price. Everyone purchasing the image during June is entered into a draw to win one of three $20 gift certificates at the end of the month.

Of course, I did pick up the image - it is GORGEOUS! Here's my card!

Since she's a fairy, I HAD to go with funky colours for her hair and skin. Just because.

Now, I AM registered for the Skin and Hair class on Kit and Clowder but I haven't had a chance yet to sit down and work on the lessons. I DID complete both of the Copic certification classes last weekend (yay me) - but as you can see, I do have some work to do on my colouring. I DID pull out my light source templates to figure out where best to do my highlighting and shading but....I think I still need to do some work on that. Practice, practice! I just need to find the time!


card details:

• finished size: 4.25 x 5.5, black card stock base
• patterned paper: Pink Paislee "Bayberry Cottage"
• digital image: The Stamping Chef "Alyce", coloured with Copic Markers (skin:V0000, V01, BV0000, BV000, BV11, BV20, BV31, BV25, BV34, B17. hair: YG0000, YG00, YG01, YG23, YG25. dress: T1, T3, T5, T7, T9. wings: RV00, RV02, RV21, RV23.) Sparkly accents added to bow, eyelashes, lips, wings with atyou Spica Clear. Background sponged with CTMH Baby Pink
• layout: Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge 492

Challenges for this card:

• Come and Get it Challenge: Fairy Fantasy

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Jessica's Crafty Challenge

Hi folks,

Popping in to share a card I created for the May challenge at Jessica's Crafty Challenge - use your favourite colours. Hmmm. That's a bit of a challenge for me so I took a look in my laundry basket to see what shows up the most.

Black. Lots and lots of black. But I also seem to buy accessories in red. My phone case is red, my Pebble watch is red. My first car was .... red.

So, I went with black, white and a burgundy-ish red for my colour choice.

I HAD coloured the hair one way and then I did my intermediate Copic certification yesterday.

Here's what it looked like originally.

So I decided I didn't like the hair the way I had originally coloured it. So, I tried switching it up a little bit. It's not QUITE the way I want it so I may go back and play with the hair colour a tad more. We shall see. The darker hair is better suited for whom the card is intended - my sister. Every year, I make her a card for Father's Day (it's complicated). This year, this will be her Father's Day card.

card details:

• finished size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches, black card stock base
• patterned paper: Pink Paislee "Bayberry Cottage"
• digital stamp: Jess College Fund "Jess with Gifts" coloured with Copic Markers (E000, E00, E01, E11, R21, E21, E25, E27, E29, E21, T3, T5, T7, T9, T10, R35, R37, RV66)
• embellishments: feather poof from Pritchard Packaging
• layout: Mojo Monday 348 (I missed the cutoff for linking up - I was watching Game of Thrones!)

challenges for this card:

• Jess' Crafty Challenge - May: Use your favourite colours

As always, thanks for stopping by!

It's time to celebrate another Y&FH Team Birthday!

Hi folks!

Today I'm sending out happy birthday wishes to Kathy - one of the fabulously talented members of Team Fumi over at Yumi & Fumi Handmade.

Hope you are having a wonderfully fabulous birthday, Kathy, filled with smiles and laughter!

card details:

• finished size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches, black card stock base, burgundy card stock mats
• patterned paper: Pink Paislee "Bayberry Cottage"
• stamped image: Yumi & Fumi Handmade "Fumi with Umbrella", coloured with Copic Markers (E000, E00, E01, E93, YG21, YG23, YG25, RV91, RV93, R81, R83, R85, C1, C3, C5, C7, C9) and accented with Sakura White Gelly Roll pen.
• sentiment: Verve "Joyful Blooms"
• Spellbinders Petite Circles, EK Success Scalloped Scallops border punch
• ribbon and adhesive gems from my stash
• layout: Sentimental Sundays #174 (I flipped the sketch)

additional challenges for this card:

• Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes (I didn't go with the optional topping of more than one colour ribbon - I DID have black and green cut and ready to use but decided the card looked better with just the black ribbon)
• Sister Act Card Challenge #26: Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by! (psst - did you notice that I used some of the colours from the current Y&FH Challenge?

Viva La Verve September 2013 Week 2

Hi folks,

today I'm sharing a card I made to wish a friend well in her new home. I used the Week 2 Sketch for the September Viva La Verve Challenge over on Splitcoaststampers. Here's a peek at the sketch:

and here's the card I made:

card details:

• finished size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches, black card stock base
• patterned paper: Pink Paislee Bayberry Cottage
• stamps: Verve "Life is Good" Plain Jane, "All Aflutter"
• dies: Verve "All Aflutter",  Spellbinders "Petite Circles"

additional challenges for this card:

• Through the Craft Room Door: Anything Goes
• Sister Act Card Challenge #24: Anything Goes

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Viva La Verve - July Week 3

Hi folks,

I made some time this weekend to play in the craft room - basically, I gave myself a day off from exercising and running errands on Sunday to indulge in a little me time.

I wanted to try to tackle the rest of the July Viva La Verve challenges over at Splitcoaststampers.

Here is a quick peek at the week three sketch:

and here are the two cards I made based on the sketch:

card details:

• finished size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches, black card stock base
• patterned paper: Pink Paislee "Bayberry Cottage", edges distressed with my scissors
• stamps: Verve "Wishful Elegance", "Big Wish", "Tag Time"
• die cuts: Verve "Curvy Bookplate", "Banner Bundle", Spellbinders Lacey Circles, 
• Snug Hug Seam binding from my stash
• Basic Grey "Nook and Pantry" button from my stash

Challenges for this card:

• Pile it On #30: Anything Goes
• Sister Act Card Challenge #17: Anything Goes
• Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes (for the birthday card)
• Papertake Weekly Challenge: Die-ing for a punch (I used three different dies)

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Scrap happy!

Hi folks,

In my quest to diminish my stash of mini paper pads, I decided that with the off cuts from making my cards in the previous post, I should throw together a few more cards. After all, the pieces were sitting right there in my crafty space, so why not?


Scrappy Card #1 - a thank you card for my stash

Scrappy Card #2 - it's hard to read in the photo but the sentiment says "Thanks Ever So Much"

Scrappy Card #3 - another birthday card for my stash

Scrappy Card #4 - another thank you card for my stash

card details:

• finished size: 5x5 inches, white card bases from Michael's
• stamps: Verve "Dream Big", "Treasured Words", "Amazing Wishes"
• dies: Verve "Scalloped Flowers", "Rounded Rectangle"

additional challenges for these cards:

• Card Crafter's Circle #81: Happy Birthday (Card #3)
• Cas-ual Friday's #107: Hunger Games (at least one arrow - Card #2)

Hope everyone is having a fabulous day! Here in Canada it is our nation's birthday so it's a long weekend - mind you, I'm in the middle of a four-week break from work, so it is kind of just another day for me, except that my sweetie will be home with me. 

I spent last week picking up transplants for my garden and getting the annuals and perennials planted. Today I am hoping to tackle the vegetable garden. We shall see how that goes as yesterday I just avoided the entire project and went out for an afternoon motorcycle ride with my sweetie. I'm easily distracted .... <grin>!

Viva La Verve July Week 1

Hi folks,


Well, I just took a look at my occasions calendar and it looks like the next few months are going to be busy for birthdays, anniversaries and what have you.

I also made the mistake of tallying up how many smaller sized paper pads I have in my stash - anything less than 12 x12. Oh dear. There were 76 of them. My dearly beloved though, he is SO sweet, he said he thought that was reasonable. Isn't that precious?

One of my friends suggested I set myself a goal to try to stash-bust my way through half of those paper pads by the end of the year. Hmmm....think it's doable? I don't know....but I can try!

To that end, here's EIGHT cards I made to try to bust my way through one of those paper pads....

card details:

• patterned paper: Pink Paislee "Bayberry Cottage"
• stamps: Verve "Doodled Occasions", "Birthday to You" Plain Jane, "Elegant Flower" Plain Jane (coloured with Copic Markers RV69, RV34, R59)
• Stampin' Up self-adhesive gems from my stash
• various Spellbinders dies for the sentiment panels
• layout: Viva La Verve July Week 1

additional challenges for these cards:

• Pollycraft Challenges #1: Anything Goes
• Tuesday Throwdown #153: Glitz & Glimmer
• Daring Cardmakers: Forgotten Treasures (That paper pad from Pink Paislee. I've been on a My Mind's Eye paper kick lately and had neglected this lovely paper pad that was buried way back in my box of 6x6 paper pads. Come to think of it, those gems as well. I have a tendency to keep my cards very clean and often forget about my huge stash of gems.)

Thanks for stopping by! 

TPE 187 with a new stamp

Hi folks,

one of my co-workers had a birthday this week so I took the opportunity to make a card with one of the new stamps I recently acquired from Stampotique thanks to a wonderful Christmas present from my crafty pal Tanya.

Inside the card I took the opportunity to joke about the fact that now that he has reached the magical age of 35 he might have trouble "holding things together". The rest of us in my group at work are older than him and are all well experienced with things falling apart after we hit 35.

card details:

• finished size: 5x5 inches, white card stock base, black and olive card stock for mats/layers/accents
• patterned paper: Pink Paislee "Hocus Pocus" (yes, I know that's a hallowe'en paper collection but these particular papers worked well with the image and the colours I wanted to use)
• image: Stampotique "Hug Monster" by Kira Nichols, coloured with Copic Markers (V01, V04, V05, V06, V09, YR16, YR18, YG13, YG23, YG21). My first attempt at using the pointilism technique that was demonstrated on the MFT blog in this post.
• sentiment: Verve "Small Phrases"
• Spellbinders: petite ovals
• EK Success Edge Punch
• CTMH Olive button from my stash. Black and orange buttons also from my stash.
• layout: The Pink Elephant Challenge 187 sketch

additional challenges for this card:

• SplitcoastStampers LoveFest #1: L (layers) O (ovals + olive) V (violet + verve) E (EK success edge punch)
• Through the Craft Room Door: Anything Goes
• Here Come the Boys #46: Lots of Layers
• Papertake Weekly Challenge: Buttons/

Thanks for stopping by!

Back to school - again!

Hi folks

I'm back with another of the back to school cards. This one for my eldest niece who, at the ripe old age of 17, is starting college this year (she won't be 18 until the end of October). Those  of you who are frequent visitors will recognize the image - I used the same one (coloured differently) for a card for one of my other nieces as well.

card details:

• finished size: 5.5 x 5.5 inches, kraft card stock base
• patterned papers: Pink Paislee "Old School", distressed the edges with my scissors. Love the autumnal feel of these papers with the warm gold, orange, rust and barn red.
• stamped image: The Greeting Farm "Cheeky Geeky", outfit and headband are paper pieced. Rest of the image coloured with Copic Markers (E000, E00, E01, E93, E09, E50, E51, E53, E30) with CTMH Liquid Glass accents for the lenses in her glasses.
• sentiment: The Greeting Farm - Oliver & Amelia "Little Dreamer", stamped in CTMH White Daisy ink on a mini-chalkboard embellishment (from Pritchard Packaging here in Ottawa)
• layout: TGFSC29 from the TGF forum on SCS

additional challenges for this card:

• Crafty Creations Challenges #186: Back to school
• Pile It On #37 - Patterned Paper
• One Stitch at a time #130 - Under 18
• Raise The Bar - Celebrate Fall (I think a starting college card in autumnal colours is a good take on this challenge, don't you?)

As always, thanks for taking the time to pop by for a visit! 

Getting my Geek on!

Hi folks,

I'm back today with another back to school card for one of my nieces.

For this one I used Freshly Made Sketch #50 (too late to include in the challenge link as I forgot the deadline was Monday but that's okay!)

 

card details:

• finished size: 5.5 x 5.5 kraft card stock base
• patterned papers: Pink Paislee "Old School" (retired). Distressed the edges with my scissors.
• stamps: sentiment: The Greeting Farm Oliver And Amelia "Little Dreamer". Verve Stamps Notebook Paper Plain Jane, The Greeting Farm "Cheeky Geeky". Coloured with Copic Markers (E000, E00, E01, E93, E21, E23, E25, YG67, Y19. Outfit is paper pieced from the patterned papers. Added CTMH Liquid Glass for the lenses in her glasses
• dies: Verve Stamps Rounded Rectangle Die

additional challenges for this card:

• Paper Pretties Monday Challenge (PPMC55) - Create a square card
• Papertake Weekly Challenge: Anything Goes

As always, thanks for taking the time to visit!

An Eclipse Birthday

Hi folks,

for those of you who are fans of the Greeting Farm, be sure to check out their first ever SCS Customer Challenge. You have all weekend to load up your "movie" inspired creations for a chance to win any two of their clear stamp sets.

As it happens, this was a VERY well timed challenge for my card-making needs. A friend of mine who is a big Twilight fan has a birthday this weekend and I had picked up passes for the local movie cinema for her so she could go see the next movie in the series when it releases this coming week. So, I had it already planned to make her a Twilight inspired card...and here is what I came up with:

This original Wild Sprout Camille Digi (aka Bella) from The Greeting Farm was perfect. And a great partner to the Sparkly Edward card I gave her for a previous birthday!

card details:

• finished size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches, black cardstock base
• image: The Greeting Farm (this particular digi is no longer available but I think you can get it in rubber form). I'll have to come back to update the list of Copics I used to colour it.
• sentiment: computer generated (I really wanted to play on one of the movie titles for the birthday greeting)
• papers: Pink Paislee Bayberry Cottage
• layout: November Sketch For You To Try

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Little Peeps for Mother's Day

Hi folks,

Well, I guess you could say I've a productive weekend making cards. The weather has been nice here all weekend but I've spent quite a bit of time getting crafty. All of those April showers have left our yard still too wet to get really serious with the Spring cleanup. Still to squishy to be walking about in the backyard and de-thatching or kneeling down to tend to the flower beds. I'm hoping we will have a few more dry days so I can get down to it later in the week!

Anyways, back to the cards. These two will be Mother's day cards.

ETA - this second picture was missing when the post went live. I came back and put the missing photo back where it should have been! Grr...blogger!

I know, neither one of them of them says "Mom" or "Happy Mother's Day" on the front. What can I say? I decided to use different sentiments since these aren't going to either my Mom or my dearly beloved's Mom or Step-Mother. These are for other special Mom's we know.

card details:

• finished size: 5.5 x 5.5 inches
• stamped image: Little Peep's Flower Vase from Stamping Bella. stamped on Copic X-press card stock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, coloured with Copic Markers (YG17, YG13, B0000, B000, E000, E00, E25, Y00, U02, Y04, R81, R83, R85)
• sentiment: CTMH Friendship's Garden
• patterned papers: Pink Paislee "Bayberry Cottage"
• Buttons from my stash
• Layout: SplitCoastStampers Sketch #330
• Stamping Bella Bellarific Friday Challenge: Flowers

Hope you all have a lovely day! Thanks for stopping by!