Mish's Hip to be Square sketch challenge

So as I was browsing tonight I saw that Michelle Wooderson posted a sketch challenge on her blog. Since I was not "partying" tonight, I decided to give the sketch a whirl. I was totally in to my scraps tonight so everything on this card was in one of my many sized scrap bins (even the card base!). This is kinda neat because Nichole Heady has added a Mr. Linky to her blog today allowing us to link up cards made from scraps ...head on over and see who else has been using scraps!!

I decided to go with a valentines card because I found that scrap of pink polka dots with the pink stripe running through them. Actually, it is a piece of packaging from one of my past Papertrey Ink sets (I have no idea which one, I just always keep bits and pieces of the packaging if I think I might use it some time down the road). I knew the piece would be perfect punched into a heart!!

The rest is pretty obvious. I did have to use my Copic marker to get the pink mat as I did not have a piece of scrap that matched the pink of the polka dots on the heart.

Supplies: Stamps - Basic Backgrounds:Retro, Out on a Limb (Papertrey Ink), Paper - Select White, Kraft, Bitty Dots (Papertrey Ink); Ink - Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!); Other - marker (Copic), heart punch (Marvy), dimensionals, brown satin ribbon (Michaels), crochet yarn colored with pink copic marker.

Have a great evening!!

Donelda

CAS46 - Sketch and New Year's Resolutions

It has been weeks since I have been able to play in my craft room. Today it is cold outside and I had nothing planned so I finally got a chance to just sit in my craft room and play.

I decided to work on the Clean and Simple challenge #46. I realize I'm a bit late but I really liked the layout so wanted to give it a try.

I pulled out some of my new toys to play with including this awesome stamp set from Hero Arts.

I wanted to keep playing so I took this same general layout and adapted it to an A2 card size using the same stamps. Obviously, I changed the placement of the sentiment and I added some strips of cardstock along the bottom. It is an ultra clean and simple card. I am still considering if I want to add brads or something along the lower left corner - maybe under the darker green strip. What do you think???

Supplies: Stamps - Asian Frames (Hero Arts), sentiment - Beyond Basic Borders (Papertrey Ink), background on card 1 - Background Basics:Retro (Papertrey Ink); Paper - Whisper White, Old Olive, Kraft (Stampin' Up!); green scraps (Bazzill); Ink - Chocolate Chip, Old Olive (Stampin' Up!); Other - Coluzzle, paint brush (to paint the green leaves on card 1, dimensionals, sponge, Corner Rounder (We R Memory Corner Chomper).

So it is New Years Eve. I have decided on my crafting New Year's resolution. First I am planning to "use what I have". That's right, no more hoarding!! I will be using all of the stuff that I have been busy collecting over the last few years! Also, I am hoping to "participate in more challenges". You see, I tend to do the same thing over and over again but when I participate in challenges, it makes me streatch my creativity!! So, there you go...those are the 2 resolutions I hope to be sticking to for 2010!!

I also just want to say thank you to all of those who have stuck with me over the year! I truly appreciate any comments that are left!! And even if you don't leave comments...I still know you are there because my counter keeps going up and up and up! So, I appreciate you too ... and I hope you enjoy what you see!!

Well, we are away for the next few days. I have posts ready to go while I'm away so you still have something fun the look at!! See you all in 2010!!

Donelda

Masculine and Dots

Happy New Years!! I hope you all celebrate tonight like it's 1999..... hehehehe!!!! So here is that pine cone again... you know, the one from Papertrey Ink's First Fruits set. I used it on THIS card and here is a double cone version. This card is rather masculine, often difficult for me. I might have to recreate this a few times!! I doodled around the focal image with my brown marker. The dotty paper behind the focal image is from an 8x8 pad of designer paper from Me and My Big Ideas. The sentiment is from one of my favorite sets, Mixed Messages (also Papertrey Ink) Thanks for dropping in to my blog and thanks for leaving a comment to let me know what you think~~ Donelda

smARTworks - Inchie Artwork

I had a lot of fun making this Inchie hanger. This great leaf inchie is from smARTworks Inchies #3 set. I stamped it 3 times, cut it out and distressed the edges with my scissors. Then I adhered it to this green rectange and faux brown ribbon. It looks like a piece of home decor.

I did some paper piercing along the sides of the green cardstock and then did faux stitching.

I hope you have a great day!!

Donelda

Glitter Leaf Birthday

ETA - I had not included the brand name of these double sided adhesive sheets that made this beautiful leaf pattern. It is by Judikins and makes adding the glitter so easy!!! I love how this card turned out!! And it was so simple to create. I started out with some white cardstock. I adhered these two sided leaf stickers to it and then peeled off the top layer. Then, I sprinkled green glitter all over it!! It was so easy to create this sparkly goodness!! To pull the card together I adhered a piece of torn brown cardstock at the top and a bit of brown cardstock on the bottom of the glitter piece. I adhered all this to a Kraft card base and stamped the sentiment with Chocolate Chip ink. Supplies: stamps - Birthday Basics (Papertrey Ink); Paper - Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Kraft (SU!); Ink - Chocolate chip (SU!); Other - Design Adhesives double sided adhesive sheets (Judikins), green glitter (Ritz). So quick and simple!! Thanks for dropping in! Donelda

Brown Circle Hello

ETA - Hehehe, I didn't even realize that this card has the same layout as yesterday's card!! It is a great clean and simple layout!! I saw THIS awesome card by StamperJen0 on SCS and I instantly fell in love with it!! At the same time, I saw a card that used a circle mask to create an interesting image. I didn't have the stamp that Jen used on her card so I decided to use the masking circle idea to create my own circle image. This image is actually the pineapple from Papertrey Ink's First Fruits set. I figured out that one of my circle punches was exactly the same width as the pineapple. So I stamped the pineapple in 2 different colors of ink and then punched them out with a larger circle punch -- getting the nice white outline. The sentiment "hello" is in the lower right corner but it is difficult to see. Any ideas how to fix that?? Maybe I'll add a small white word punch with the sentiment in it. Thanks for dropping in!! Donelda

Clean and Simple Circles

This image comes from Simple Little Things, the first free set given out by Papertrey Ink to customers who had purchased 12 sets or more over the year. I qualified...duh!!

This Clean and Simple card is stamped with Berry Sorbet and Ocean Tides (both PTI colors). I really like those 2 colors together!!

Some wide grosgrain ribbon in the Berry Sorbet to balance the card. Sometimes it is nice to put together a few quick cards to increase my giving stash!!

Thanks for dropping in today!

Donelda

Christmas Eve - Review of my Top 10

Well it is actually Christmas Eve!! We are very excited around here!! I will be busy as my mom is coming tonight and then we will be visiting and enjoying Christmas so I won't be around the blog for a few days but I'll be back at it on the 27th. In the meantime, I thought I would take a moment to review my year of blogging. I decided to list 10 of my favorite cards that I posted over the year - kinda like Dick Clark's countdown!! If you have a favorite card from my blog I'd love to hear a shout out!! This first picture is my favorite mini cards done for the July Papertrey Ink Blog Hop (July 25, 09). This is my favorite set of sympathy cards, always difficult to make (June 14, 09). This next card is my favorite technique that I did over the year. Love those swirly colors!! (Sept 25, 09) Here is a card that fits two favorites - my favorite baby card and my favorite Loonie Stampers challenge cards (Apr 26, 09). This card ended up being my favorite Clean and Simple card of the year. I love the colors and those dots (Nov 16, 09). This is 'hands-down' my favorite project other than a card. What does one do when one forgets their camera on vacation....make an inchie book instead (Apr 27, 09). This was definately my favorite Christmas card of the year (Dec. 5, 09). This is my favorite smARTworks card. Love the lace and watercoloring that image was so much fun! (Jan 29, 09) This is my favorite embellishment card. I love that nest and the feathers were a perfect embellishment (Oct 21, 09). And last but certainly not lease, my favorite square card is this one (Aug. 7, 09). Thanks for dropping in. I hope you and yours have a wonderful Christmas!!! See you back here on the 27th!! Donelda

Hero Arts Gift Card Holder

Currently over at the Hero Arts Blog, there is a challenge going on where we are invited to create a card or tag that incorporates a gift. I give out a lot of gift cards for birthdays and I am always looking for interesting new ways to package them. So, I decided to pull something together.

For this gift card holder, I created a little flat pouch. Then there is a folded card inside the pouch where you can write your sentiment and

where the actual gift card gets placed. Even though there are 2 pieces to this it is relatively flat so should be good to mail as long as I keep the embellishments flat.

Supplies: Stamps - Asian Frames (Hero Arts - clear), Butterflies (Hero Arts - Clings), Garden of Life (Papertrey Ink), Polka Dot Basics (Papertrey Ink); Paper - Stampers Select White, Raspberry Fizz, Aqua Mist (all Papertrey Ink); Ink - Raspberry Fizz, Vintage Cream (Papertrey Ink), Basic Black (Stampin' Up!); Other - Raspberry Fizz satin ribbon (Papertrey Ink), white gel pen (Signo), circle and scallop nestability dies (Spellbinders), Cuttlebug, Coluzzle, small scallop scissors (Provo Craft).

I'm excited to get more ideas for gift card holders and other holders for other gifts too!! I'm off to see what everyone is making!!

Have a great lead up to Christmas!! Just 2 more sleeps now!!

Donelda

Christmas Card Reveal Countdown - Day 21

It's finally here, the very last day of my Christmas Card countdown. 21 days of christmas creativity!! Today I have some beautiful House Mouse and Happy Hopper cards to share with you!! I love them, they make me smile!!

The kissing bunnies were sent to many of the gals I met by joining the House Mouse swaps on SCS. I haven't been able to participate lately, but keep in contact with many of them still!!

I hope you enjoyed my Christmas Card Reveal Countdown! I sure did enjoy sharing all my Christmas cards with you!!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and the best in the New Year!

Donelda

Christmas Card Reveal Countdown - Day 20

These are the cards I sent to my fellow smARTworks Design Team members and Susan Trask, the owner.

If you follow the smART Word challenges, you will know that the inspiration Word for the month of December is: CHRISTMAS (what else would it be). For me, the word Christmas inspired me to create those tags you see here. Then, I used those tages to create Christmas cards for my fellow design team members!!

I have really enjoyed my work with Susan and the team with smARTworks and I look forward to a wonderful 2010 and all the creativity it promises!!

Thanks for dropping in today. I hope you return to see what I have in store for the very last day of my 21 day countdown. Tomorrow there is not 1 but 3 cards to share with you ... and they are some of my favorites. So make sure you drop back in tomorrow!!!

Donelda

Christmas Card Reveal Countdown - Day 19

Isn't this St. Nick adorable?? He belongs to the stamp set Believe by Papertrey Ink. While I love him, I often find I can't think of anything to "do" with him. So, this year I pulled him out and put my thinking cap on.

In the end, I paper pieced his outfit (click on the picture to get a larger view so you can see that). I added a little wreath for him to hold! I hope you like him. He was lots of fun to create with.

Tomorrow is Day 20 of my Christmas Card countdown!! Inching closer and closer to the end ... and to Christmas!!

See you tomorrow.

Donelda

Christmas Card Reveal Countdown - Day 18

This card was inspired by one of my favorite stampers, Debbie Olsen. She just has a way with stamps and paper!!

I had been trying to use my Rustic Branches (Papertrey Ink) stamp set to create a Christmas card and I came across Debbie's beautiful version seen HERE. You can see I didn't change very much!!

This would be an easy card to mass reproduce - I only made one this year...but maybe more next year!!

Drop in tomorrow for Day 19 of my Christmas Card countdown!!

Donelda

Christmas Card Reveal Countdown - Day 17

This is a real quick card. I stamped these great Snowy Pines (smARTworks) onto a white card base. Then I added some swirls using the lightest blue ink I own!! Added some Stardust Stickles (Ranger) to the swirls to give it some magic. Finally a big white organdy bow!

Easy peasy!!

Thanks for dropping in. There are only 4 more days of my Christmas Card Reveal!!

Donelda

Christmas Card Reveal Countdown - Day 16

This card was created because I wanted to use that pointsettia stamp. It is from the Holiday Happiness set from Stampin' Up! and was my very first Christmas stamp set (and I would guess it is retired by now). While I love it, I don't use it very often so I dusted it off and tried to fix that!

The layout was inspired by Kristina Werner's card seen HERE. Of course her's is ever so lovely!!

I love all the swirlys and the colors are an interesting mix.

Thanks for dropping in and I hope to see you here tomorrow for Day 17 of my Christmas Card Countdown.

Donelda

Christmas Card Reveal Countdown - Day 15

Here I am trying out a non-traditional color scheme again!! Pink and green are one of my favorites - even though I am not typically a pink girl!! When I made this card I had been trying to find a way to use the trees from the Made of Snow stamp set (Papertrey Ink) becuase I had not used them yet! For these, I stamped the tress onto a piece of green scrap paper that had a linen look to them. The ornaments are little pink seed beads (what a pain to glue those on!). The sentiment is from the Take a Bough set (Papertrey ink). Well, we are getting closer and closer to Christmas!! Where did the time go??!! Drop back in tomorrow for Day 16!! Donelda

Clean and Simple (CAS) Challenge 45 - Curved Gold Branches

I had some fun yesterday creating in my craft room for the first time in about 2 weeks!! It felt sooo good to create again!!

This card is for the SCS Clean and Simple challenge #45 - I've Got Curves.

Cut the light purple cardstock after drawing a free-hand curve. Adhered it to the dark purple card (this card is 3 1/2" x 6 1/2"). Placed the flower branches on the acrylic block with a curve that followed the curve of the paper (one of the great things about clear stamps - straight images can be curved). Stamped with Versamark and then heat embossed with gold. Drew a gold line along the edge of the light purple. Ended off with a straight sentiment - I had considered making it curve too but it was "too much" of a good thing and the stright sentiment really seems to balance all the curves!!

Supplies: stamps-Life, Garden of Life (Papertrey Ink); Cardstock-Plum Pudding, Lavender Moon (Papertrey Ink); Ink - Plum Pudding (Papertrey Ink); Other - gold embossing powder, gold marker.

Thanks for dropping in again today!!

Donelda

Christmas Card Reveal Countdown - Day 14

You know how much I love inchies ... so I decided to use them on a Christmas card. After coloring this tee image (Believe - Papertrey Ink), I cut it into 1" squares and then sponged around each. Added all this to a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock. A very interesting result but this was very time consuming and I'd never have the patience to make more than one of these cards.

One particular detail that I really like here is that I took my white gel pen and added just a bit to the berries on the card. You might need to click on the image to get a larger view to see it!! I'll be doing that again!!

Sentiment stamp is from Mixed Messages (Papertrey Ink).

Thanks for visiting and I hope to see you tomorrow for Day 15 of my countdown!

Donelda

Trying Digital

So I popped over to Caardvarks today to see what the challenge was and found out that it was being sponsored by Hero Arts (love them!) and that the challenge was to use a digital item on your card. Now, I've been checking into "digital" these days. It interests me but I am at a bit of a stand still since I'm still trying to figure out Photoshop!! Regardless, since I had nothing better to do on this cold, cold day (it is -28 here today, celcius) I decided to play around a bit. Here are my first ever hybrid cards (a little digital and a little stamping). They are small cards that fit into the "mini envelope treat pattern" by Lisa Johnson . She used hers for valentine treats, I figured they'd make great mini card envelopes. The card measures 3 1/4" wide and 2 1/16" high - perfect for a little "hello" card to a friend. I haven't purchased any digital images (yet) but there are lots for free on line, if you look! I decided that since the challenge was being sponsored by Hero Arts I'd use their free Friendship Definition digital image. That's the background. As well, and less noticable, is a layer of cream color underneath the definition stamp, from the same set. The hybrid part comes in with the addition of my hand stamping that I added. I used these yummy strawberries from the Fruitful set by Papertrey Ink. I started out with the blue background color. But then, I wanted the background to match the strawberries better so I changed the color - wow, look at me go!!! So, if you are like me and a bit "scared" to "go digital" - start small!! It was a lot of fun making these cards ... eventually after a LOT of fiddling!! Thanks for dropping in! Donelda

Christmas Card Reveal Countdown - Day 13

I'm not sure where I got this stamped image. I think someone sent it to me in the mail. He's rather cute, isn't he. I colored him in with Stampin' Up markers and highlighted with my pencil crayons (Prismacolor). You will note that his belly looks fluffy (you can click on the image to get a larger image). That is done by using a terry cloth rag pounced in a darker yellow and then pounced on the already colored image. It is great for adding to animals who have fur (or feathers, in this case!). The words "to the world" actually come from a different stamp set (Take a Bough - Papertrey Ink). This card will be sent to one of our friends who have young children :-) So tomorrow is Day 14 in my countdown. I look forward to seeing you then!! Donelda

Christmas Card Reveal Countdown - Day 12

This was a really fun card. I was inspired by THIS card (scroll down to the second card) by Clarie B (from Waltzingmouse Makes) and, knowing I'd not be able to order her stamps any time soon, I decided to try re-creating the same look on my own!! Using my Faux Ribbon stamp set (from Papertrey Ink), I created a green on green plaid design. Then, I flipped over the paper and drew some large holly leaves and cut them out. I think they turned out rather good.

Simply added some buttons, a border, and a sentiment (Believe - Papertrey Ink) and a card is born!!

Hope to see you tomorrow for Day 13!!

Donelda

Christmas Card Reveal Countdown - Day 11

This little stocking stamp was a freebie I got from my local scrapbooking store. It was one of the "free with purchases over $35.00..." kinda things. Well, who in their right mind wouldn't spend $35.00 so that you could get a free stamp??!! You can bet your bottom dollar that I made sure my purchase was at least $35.00 .... heheheh!! I really wanted to try a different color combo (I tend to really stick to traditional colors) so I colored the stocking in pink with my Copic marker. Then I added some white flocking to the top of my stocking -- lots of fun!! Other stamps: Take a Bough, sentiment - Rustic Branches (both Papertrey Ink). Thanks for dropping in today. I hope you come back to see all the other cards in my countdown!! Donelda

Christmas Card Reveal Countdown - Day 10

Aaaaahhhh, Day 10 and a beauty to share with you!! Actually this design is stolen *wink* from my blogging friend Susan (you might know her, she's like so popular!) Her clean and simple designs are amazing. I saw THIS card she created and I totally fell in love. Of course I did make a few changes to my card, choosing to mat the red onto a white card base. As well, I added half-pearls to the centers of each snowflake and along side the sentiment (you can click on the photo to see it closer). And you will see that I played around with the size of matting....which one do you like best?? And I didn't round the corners of my sentiment piece... because Susan warned us not to (hehehe!!).

This turned out to be one of my favorites of the year!! Thanks Susan!!

Stamps: Snowflakes (Stampin' Up!), Believe (Papertrey Ink).

Join me tomorrow for Day 11 and see what creations I have to share.

Donelda

Christmas Card Reveal Countdown - Day 9

And here we are at day 9 of my Christmas Card countdown. If you have just dropped in, you should know that I don't like to post Christmas cards for the many months leading up to Christmas. Instead, I chose to wait and post them all in December. Today is the 9th day in a countdown to Christmas. So you might want to go through my older posts up to Dec. 1st when this all started. Now, in order to get enough Christmas cards made we sometimes need to find an easy way to make a large batch. When that is the case, I like to turn to beautiful designer paper to help me out!! This Anna Griffin paper is my all time fav!! And here are a few others, including some Karen Foster paper (the mugs) that my friend Dawn left for me (Hi Dawn!!!) All sentiments are from Papertrey Ink. Hope to see you back tomorrow for Day 10!! Donelda

Christmas Card Reveal Countdown - Day 8

Today's card I acutally made a looooooonnnnnng time ago. I think it was early summer. I thought I had posted it but I can't seem to find it. Anyway, I like it so much that I wanted to share it again (or maybe for the first time??!!!LOL)

This is my loose interpretation of a pointsettia!!! I created it by using the large and small petal stamps from the Petal Power stamp set from smARTworks. Isn't that a great pointsettia???? I just love it! This card will also be going to someone special!!

Sentiment is from Take a Bough (Papertrey Ink) and is embossed in gold.

See you tomorrow for Day 9.

Donelda

Christmas Card Reveal Countdown - Day 7

This is an interesting card but I just can't seem to get a good photo of it. The color is closer to blue but it looks kinda green here on my monitor. Just invision a slate blue or Ocean Tides (from Papertrey Ink). I actually created this for the October Guest Star Stamper contest at Papertrey Ink. Of course, I didn't win ...sad face...but then there is so much great talent!! I still like these fancy home-made ornaments!! I used Guidelines 1 on a circle of stamped Ocean Tides ink and then embossed the fancy swirls with white!! Stamps: Take a Bough, Guide Lines (Papertrey Ink). I hope you enjoyed this card. I'll see you tomorrow for Day 8 of my countdown. Donelda

Christmas Card Reveal Countdown - Day 6

Hello and welcome to the 6th day of my Christmas Card countdown!! Today's card is another recycled card. There are actually a few items recycled on this card. See that beautiful red and gold strip (click on it to see it better, the red is actually velvety and the gold has an awesome swirly pattern in it) it comes from a card we recieved for Christmas last year. The velvet and gold were just too pretty to throw away!! And those gold pointsettia's actually came from a co-worker's mother. Apparently they were trying to do some early down-sizing and came across all these gold embelishments and my friend thought I could use them on some cards. You can be sure that she will be recieving one of these cards for Christmas so she can see how beautiful they look!! And, while I'm pretty sure they weren't supposed to be pointsettia's, I think they fit the role perfectly!! What do you think?? I hope you are enjoying the countdown. I'll see you tomorrow for day 7. Donelda

Christmas Card Reveal Countdown - Day 5

Welcome to day 5 of my Christmas Card reveal countdown!! Today I am sharing my very favorite card that I made. You might remember that I got this stamp set at a garage sale for a very cheap price!! I knew it would make great cards. See the colored one...that is my very favorite card that I made this year. I might even have to keep one of them. I'm not sure why but I just love it...maybe it's the colors or the layout!!?? I had to color a strip of white cardstock with my gold paint pen to get that gold in there!! And the main image is all masked and the buildings are watercolored and the sky and sand are sponged. A great effect!! This second card is a clean and simple version using the same stamp. Much quicker and easier and while I do like it....it doesn't hold a candle to the other more colorful one.

What do you think of my favorite card? Do you like it??

Check back in tomorrow to see what is in store for Day 6 of my countdown (or count up!)

Donelda