Birthday Hoot

Well, clearly I've been into my Hero Arts stash!  This image I recieved in a Blog Candy win and I love this guy!!  I stamped the branch a few times and then placed him on top.  While I added the ink colors to the stamp for the branch, the owl is an outline image so I colored him in with various Copic markers. 

The sentiment is from Wise Owl, a Papertrey Ink owl set.  The image felt masculine so I wanted to keep is that way ... which makes me turn to tearing as a way to add some texture and interest! 

Boy, I sure seem stuck on this layout it seems!   I'll have to mix things up in the future. 

Thanks for dropping in!
Donelda

One Layer Wednesday (OLW) #14 - Square Outlines

Susan gave a real great challenge today on her blog.  It was to use Square Outlines on your One Layer Card ... now when I first read the title, I thought she wanted us to use "square outlines" but it turns out that she was actually issuing a double challenge.  The card had to be square and use outline stamps.  (lightbulb!). 

I did one card, realized that I made a rectangle (slap forhead).  As well, the rectangle card now has a layer on it .. gasp ... but it is only so because I stamped the darn sentiment on crooked!  Hate it when that happens, so I just added a popped up sentiment that is straight!  Because of my failure to remember to make the darn card square, I made a second card almost exactly the same but this time I did it in a 3x3 (I just used the smaller flower and leaf image and a smaller sentiment).  I'm posting both because, while it looks like I just slapped that color in there, it does take a bit of work!!

Supplies: Friends 'Til the End, Birthday Basics, Mixed Messages (all Papertrey Ink); Paper - Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!); Ink - Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!), Sumer sunrise, Ripe Avacado (Papertrey Ink); Other - watercolor brush.

Here is a close up of the watercoloring effect.   And here is the rectangle card I started with, sheesh!! 

I need more birthday cards so you will see lots of those on my blog in the coming days.  

Thanks for dropping into my little corner of blogland today! 

Donelda

Bamboo Birthday

I know, you've seen this image a lot lately!!  LOL!!  Well, it is so pretty paired with a solid black sentiment and once I got playing around with the faux watercolor technique I just couldn't stop! 

This is one of the second stampings.  You can see some other cards created with this same image and technique here and here. 

This time,  a little tearing created the perfect texture for this rustic card.  I took the picture outside so it is a bit washed out - sorry!

Supplies: Stamps - Decrotive Bamboo (Hero Arts), Simple Little Things (Papertrey Ink); Ink - Jet Black (Ranger); Paper - Whisper White, Basic Black, Sahara Sand (Stampin' Up!), Other - black crochet yarn, dimensionals.

I promise I am done with these images but have some awesome baby cards for you that use up some items I've been stashing for a looooong time!!

Donelda

Bamboo Gratitude

Last week I created a card for a challenge to use watercolors in some way.  That card turned out great but this was actaully my first attempt.  I like it too but the challenge was for a One Layer Card.  You can imaging me slapping my forhead after finishing this card and then realizing my mistake! 

No problem, as I had played around with this great bamboo image and created a few different versions with it. 

The main image on this card is actually smooth watercolor paper matted with black cardstock and then placed on a very vanilla card base.  When doing the faux watercolor technique, watercolor paper accepts the color well and makes for a great final result!  I love it paired with this bold sentiment too. 

Supplies: Stamps - Decorative Bamboo (Hero Arts), sentiment from Spiral Bouquet (Papertrey Ink), Ink - Jet Black (Ranger), Paper - Very Vanilla, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!), smooth watercolor paper; Other - watercolor crayons (Stampin' Up!), spray bottle. 

Thanks for dropping in.  Have a wonderful day!
Donelda

2 Cup Mornings

I wanted to make something with this adorable image that I recieved in my July Secret Sister package.  I love Changito with his 2 cups of coffee!  Look how his pajamas are not buttoned up properly ... if only you knew how many times I had done this!!  LOL! 

When I had my Twinkling H2O's out a few days ago to make THIS card, I decided to play a bit more with them.  I "painted" on the yummy sparkly blue Twinkling H2O onto the woodgrain background and stamped onto some white cardstock.  Today I decided to use it for a "spotlight" so I cut it out with my Coluzzle and then sponged around the edges with some Broken China distress ink. 

Next, I took some of the Broken China and smooched it onto a stamping block.  Using a watercolor brush, I picked up the ink and painted Changito's pajamas and coffee cups.  Then I used browns to paint in Changito himself.  I added a brown background stamped with the coffee cup using Versamark.  Did a bit of faux stitching to add a bit of detail.  Finally, I pulled the card together, popping Changito and the sentiment for some added demension!  I hope you can see how awesome the woodgrain background is ... all sparkly.  You can click on the picture (or right click and go to 'open') to see a larger view.  

He turned out so fun and cute I decided to enter him on the Moxie Fab World's Fun and Cute challenge.  You should play along too.  And if Fun and Cute is not your style, there is also a Clean and Graphic, Shabby and Chic, and Classy and Elegant category.  Go and have some fun!!!

Supplies: Images - Changito (not sure of actual stamp name, Stampendous), sentiment (unknown, from my Secret Sister), Warm Happiness (Papertrey Ink), Designer Woodgrain (Hero Arts); Paper - Whisper White (Stampin' Up!), Dark Chocolate, also from my secret sister (Papertrey Ink); Ink - Broken China (Ranger), Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel (Stampin' Up!), Versamark; Other - Twinkling H2O, Coluzzle, white gel pen (Signo), dimensionals, sponge.

My secret sister totally spoiled me and I will be showcasing lots of the goodies she sent me on upcoming cards!! 

I hope you all had a great weekend.
Donelda

Fall To Layout 100!! Striped Best Wishes

I enjoy the clean & simple blog from Natasha and her gang so much!  Their Fall To Layouts are great inspiration and I use them often.   This week is their 100th Fall to Layout so I thought I'd play along.  They are having a blog hop so you should go and check out all the great cards created for this 100th layout.


My card is fairly clean and simple.  It is a vanilla card base with this wonderful striped designer paper on top (Cosmo Cricket, I think).  The oval sentiment and ribbon are Scarlet Jewel (Papertrey Ink) to pick up the darkest reds from the designer paper!   I used my "hi tech" decorative scissors to cut the scallop since I don't own any such punch or die!  The scissors work just as well for me!! 


If you love the sketch as much as I do, make sure you link your project up over at the clean & simple site so we can all see your creation!! 


Thanks for dropping in!
Donelda

Scalloped Dots

I ha\ve seen some great cards created with Papertrey Ink's new Large Scallop Border Die.   Of course I don't have it but that never stops me!!  You should know that by now.  I just had to decide how to recreate the great look like you can see HERE by Maile Belles. 

I used the smallest dots from Polka Dot Basics II and embossed them with white powder on pink, yellow, and black cardstock.  Then, I used my 1" circle punch and punched a bunch of circles.  Then it was just a matter of lining them up carefully and glueing them down.  I love the result!!  I will be sure to be doing this again with different layouts and color combos.  But I do love this combo! 

I hope you are inspired too. 

Donelda

Birthday Bird

Here is another card I made out of the images and goodies I received from my Secret sister!  Isn't she great!!  I definately think so.  This great bird image is from Whipper Snapper, I company whose whimsical stamps I drool over but I don't own any!  But now I have a few of these great images to play with!                                              

I decided to color him in with a few Copic markers.  Because I wanted a green and blue bird, I had to do the "feathering technique".  It is a little tricky and I clearly need a bit of practice but it worked.  I decided to run the sentiment along the flower and then cut along the line which resulted in a very interesting shape for a focal pointAnd look at that great background paper, isn't it lovely!    A bit of black crochet thread and dimensionals and the card was finished. 

Thanks for dropping in to my little corner of the blog-dom.   Have a great day!

Donelda

One Layer Wednesday (OLW) - Christmas in July

Susan's One Layer Wednesday Challenge #13 is to make a Christmas card ... You are killing me Susan!!!  You really want me to dust off my Christmas stamps in the middle of July on such a warm day????  But I did anyway!! 

One of the things I love to do is use my Twinkling H2Os on these snowflakes.  It comes out so shimmery!! 

Supplies: Stamps - Snowflakes (Stampin' Up!), Take a Bough (Papertrey Ink); Paper - Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Ink - Jet Black (Ranger); Other - Twinkling H2O's, paint brush.

Well, I hope you enjoy your nice sunny day, despite this post :-)

Donelda

Coffee Time

Hi Everyone.  I've been having some computer problems and have been unable to get photos uploaded.  I decided to try taking some photos outside today but I'm afraid they are a bit washed out!  However, they are brighter than my usually dark photos from not having enough light inside! 

Regardless, I created this card from the supplies I received from my Secret Sister in a swap.  She sent some great coffee themed images for me to use!  and that polka dot paper is the yummiest cinnamony color of brown.

I love browns combined with pink so I colored in the cup with my brown and pink Copic markers, cut it out and popped it up on the Kraft base.  I added some Papertrey Ink pink twill ribbon to finish off the look. 

Thanks Secret Sister, if you are checking this out!!   Your packages are great!!

Donelda

Clean and Simple (CAS) Challenge - 76 - sketch

(note- this is actually my third post for the day ~having lots of fun crafting today, finally ~ if you'd like to see my submission for Lucy's button challenge or Susan's R.'s latest One Layer Wednesday card scroll down)

So I haven't played along with the Clean and Simple Challenges on Splitcoaststampers for a while.  I saw the adorable card by ravengirl that was being used as a layout for challenge #76 and decided to play along. 

I realized that the layout would be an excellent opportunity to use one of my doilies (inspired by Christine Middlecamp and her doily project seen HERE) that I had made previously.  I kept pretty close to the basic layout simply changing the shape of the desinger paper layer, the colors, and using the doily instead of a flower.  As ravengirl did, I distressed around my designer paper which served to pull it together with my doily creation. 

Supplies: Stamps- Wishing You, Polka Dot Basics II (Papertrey Ink), Watch Trio (smARTworks); Paper - Whisper White (Stampin' Up!), Winsom from the Ambrosia collection (Papertrey Ink), aqua paper (unknown); Ink - Jet Black (Ranger), Broken China and Peeled Paint (Ranger); Other - transparency, button (Hero Arts), white doily (Martha Stewart), white crochet thread, clear embossing powder (used to make the polkadot background as it was emboss resisted with the 2 ranger inks), dimensionals, sponge. 

Well, that was fun for a change!!  I sure have been prolific today ... 3 posts!!  and I have a  bunch more ready to go for the rest of the week.  I think I am back in the swing of this stamping :-)  That makes me smile!!

Have a great evening!!
Donelda

Lucy's Challenge #12 - Buttons

(note, this is my second post of the day, to see my card for Susan R's watercolor OLW challenge, be sure to scroll down!)

Lucy gave us another challenge and this time she wanted us to use buttons.  Well, I have lots of those that I can use!! 

In fact, I had this lovely "collection" of spectrum colored buttons all the same that came out of a large general pack of buttons from Walmart.  I had kept them knowing that I would use them for something at some point! 

The sentiment is from a smARTwoks set.  I stamped the senitment on a pice of white, did some sewing with my machine, and them added the buttons.  I added a few strips of black cardstock that was cut with my small scallop scissors.  A very easy and Clean and Simple card. 

(edited to add - and guess what... Lucy picked my card as one of the 'winners' of this challenge.  You can check that out HERE)

Off to see what everyone else did with thier buttons!

Donelda

One Layer Wednesday (OLW) - Watercolor

So Susan R's last one layer challenge #12 was to use watercolors in some way.  I LOVE using watercolor pencil crayons or crayons.  Here I colored the dry rubber image with 2 colors of green watercolor crayons and then misted the rubber.  I let the stamp sit a few seconds so the color would dissolve into the water and then stamped onto a piece of vanilla cardstock, then did it again.  this is actually the second stamping!  (You'll see my other cards in the future!). 

I didn't like how the bamboo just stopped before the bottom of the card so I drew a few lines with my Prismacolor Premier Assorted black markers.  It really gives the image some grounding and helps make the visual triangle with the sentiment also stamped in black. 

Supplies: Stamps - Decorative Bamboo (Hero Arts), sentiment from Spiral Bouquet (Papertrey Ink); Ink - Jet Black (Ranger); Paper - Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Other - watercolor crayons (Stampin' Up!), various black markers (Prismacolor Premier), ruler, water mister.

Thanks for dropping in today!
Donelda

Hi There!

Hi everyone.  I know I haven't posted much in the last few weeks.  I am in the middle of "cleaning house" and not just the typical clean a spot here, do a bit of dusting there kind of cleaning.  I'm talking about the take everything out of the room and wipe down the walls kinda cleaning.  I try to do it every summer when I am off work.  It makes me feel like at least it gets done once a year so I don't cringe too badly the rest of the year. 

Anyway, what it means is that I have not been able to post much to my blog. 

I do have a few cards made, just none photographed yet.  I am hoping to be able to do that later today! 

In the mean time, here is a cute little 'scrapling' that I made out of the scraps left over from THIS card.  I am trying to use up scraps as I create them in an attempt to reduce my scraps.....

Enjoy your Monday!!

Fabriano Feather

Hello everyone. 

Here is a card I actaully made a while ago.  I can't remember which card she made, but I'm pretty sure this card was inspired by none other than the simply wonderful Susan R. 

This feather is a stamp from smARTworks as is the wonderful Fabriano card.  These cards are nothing but delicious!!  I stamped the feather and senitment with Chocolate chip ink.   A very Clean and simple card for sure!! 

Hope you are all having a great week!  I am busy creating a few cards using supplies I received from my Secret Sister in a swap I am in. I will photograph and post them when I get a chance. 

Donelda

I'm Home!!

Hi Everyone.

You might have noticed that I had a few posts going up but I wasn't dropping in to anyone's blogs lately.  Well that was because we were on a family holiday.  We enjoyed a trip to Park City, Utah.  We had a wonderful time. 

Now I am itching to create!!

Donelda

Live for Today

Don't you love this sentiment!  It means a lot to myself and my team at work!! 


Just wanted to create with it.  I made the sentiment verigated by stamping it first in Pumpkin Pie, then just the top and bottom using Really Rust, and finishing the very edge with Chocolate Chip (all Stampin' Up colors).

Stamps: Through the Trees (Papertrey Ink).

Enjoy your day!
Donelda

Butterfly Swirls - scraps

I made this one from some scraps that my son picked out for me. 

He picked the black and whtie polkadots, the piece with the swirls, and the color piece behind the buterfly focal point. 

The swirls are made from moulding paste colored with acrylic paint.  It was actually on a piece of vanilla cardstock but I used my Copic markers to make to match. 

I hope you have enjoyed my scrap cards and that they inspire you to dig into your scraps and use them up!

Thanks for dropping into my little piece of the blogging world.

Donelda

Yes, another card made from some of the scraps in my scrap bin.  See that butterfly ... it has been sitting in my scrap bin for a while just waiting to be used. 

I love the green squares ... I used a small stamp of flowers from g Studio and versamark ink.  Then, I sponged around each piece with black.  It makes for a great effect!  The sentiment is also from the same gStudio set and the gingham ribbon is from Offray. 

I think what I like best is the soft yellow cardstock (Lemon Tart, Papertrey Ink).  It picks up the yellow from the butterfly. 

My scrap pile is getting smaller and smaller.  :-)

Thanks for dropping in today!
Donleda

Celebrate Today - scraps

First of all, let me say that I am sorry I've not been around much lately.  June is a very busy time of year for anyone who works in a school division.  Additionally, I have been missing my creative mojo lately. 

However, I finally sat down and actually made some cards.  And I used all scraps to make them!!

Here I am showcasing one of them.  I've had that sentiment punched shape for a very long time.  It is nice to finally use it!

I'll be sharing more cards over the next week!

Birthday Tree - Scraps

So here is another one of the cards I created using some of the scaps. 

See that pretty striped paper, I've had it for a very long time but have not found a way to use it up.  I have always had trouble matching the beautiful colors. 

For this card, I stamped this great tree (Memory Box) and colored it in with copic markers.  Then I added the small sentiment (Papertrey Ink).  I rounded one of the corners, sponged lightly and then popped it up. 

There are still a few more scrap cards to share so stay tuned.
Donelda

Happy Canada Day!

So the Challenge over on Susan's Blog is to create a One Layer Card that is patriotic. 

Today is CANADA DAY so it was the perfect opportunity to create this card to celebrate the day with my fellow Canadians.  I love being Canadian.  Yes, we totally fit all the typical stereotypes ... and I am proud of it!!  I tear up every time I sing our national anthem and even have some now as I type this. 

So have a great day everyone and thank God we live in such a wonderful country!!!

Donelda