Nana and Papa (scrapbooking)

Today's layout is very special.  It is a layout that includes pictures of my brother and his wife with their first grandchild.  It is so precious for me to see!  I really struggle to call him "papa" but having fun with it since he is quite a bit older than I am! 

 

I am adding this layout to Glitter Girls challenge (at 2peas) to create a page using the things you are drawn to.  Well, any of you who know me know that I am totally addicted to beautiful designer paper.  I have so much of it!  Recently I purchased the new Yes, Please (Amy Tangerine for American Crafts), Lucky Charm (Dear Lizzy for American Crafts) and Maggie Holmes paper (by Crate Paper) paper packs and I am determined to use them and not hoard them like I usually do with my favourite papers.

 

So, here is a layout made with the first page from Yes, Please.  Look at all that colour!  Delish!!

 

 

Here is a close up of the butterflies - orange with a layer of vellum over top. And you can see the splatters of the orange twinkling H2Os that I added as well. More yum!

 

Thanks for dropping by!  Enjoy your day!

Donelda

Scrapbook Starting Point with Shimelle - You Can Teach (Scrapbook)

Sorry!  I haven't been a very good blogger these days!  Life continues to be busy.  I continue to do what I can and keep this fun. 

 

Today I have another page that I created using one of Shimelle's starting points as a ... well, starting point.  You can see here blog post HERE.  This is the starting point that she wanted us to use. 

 

 

I have messed around with it a bit.  I have turned the whole thing 90 degrees and the red square is actually smaller than the vellum piece. 

 

 

In addition to using Shimelle's starting point, I also borrowed some inspiration from one of her guests - Corrie Jones, who did a great guest spot on Shimelle's blog talking about different ways to use mists.  One of her ideas was to use mists to paint.  I used some electric blue (Tattered Angeles) and Silver (Tattered Angels) to paing large stripes across a piece of white cardstock. 

 

 

The page is about me taking skiing lessons for the first time.  Yup, being 44 is not going to stop me from doing all kinds of things.  And I learned that you really can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks!!  LOL!!

 

I am off to link my page up on Shimelle's blog.  You should come and play too! 

 

Thanks for dropping by for a visit!

Donelda

Home-made Rubber Stamps #7 - Flower and Stem

Okay, so today I am showcasing my favourite home-made stamps to date.  Yup, I hand carved that flower and that stem.  They are seperate images.  I could use them seperately or together like I've done here.

I had used Hibiscus Burst ink for the flowers ... and when I added the strip of Hibiscus Burst paper it was SO much brighter (probably because I am waiting - not so patiently - to purchase the new PTI ink as the old pads are getting dry).  So to fix the problem, I layered the pink cardstock with a bit of vellum punched with a scallop edge. 

It's true, I am totally addicted to creating my own stamps.  It is nice to be able to create something I want without having to purchase it or wait for it.

Thanks for dropping by.  Have a great weekend.

Donelda



CAS-ual Fridays #33 - Kraft, Twine, and Nautical

 What a great challenge going on at CAS-ual Fridays - Create a clearn and simple project using kraft and twine.  I decided to combine it with another more difficult challenge posed by a new friend of mine ... use a lighthouse image or something nautical on a christmas card. 

I adore making little embellishments like this one to cover bow knots.  The simple sentiment was all that was needed.  I didn't have any green vellum, so I used ink and sponge to make plain vellum the colour I needed. 

Off to see what other creations were made using kraft and twine at CAS-ual Fridays.

Thanks for dropping by.

Donelda

Christmas cards - Post 4

If my life was not so stressful, I might have re-created this card to send out to everyone.  I really like the flow of the swirls and the adhered holly leaves and berries. 

There is just something about a sentiment on a piece of vellum that makes it more soft than when stamped on cardstock.  I really like the idea of using vellum as it doesn't covere up all the delicious stamped image!!

Okay, just a few more days until Christmas.  DS and I are done school for the year tomorrow! Just 1 more wake-up!!   I really need a break!!

Hope you are enjoying this holiday season and it is not all stress for you. 

Donelda

Play Date Cafe #108 - Rich and Warm Colours

The Play Date Cafe colours for challenge #108 were so delicions that I wanted to play along.  However, they were so much fun, I couldn't stop.  I ended up making 2 different cards and then using my scraps to create a third card!

This fist card was clean and simple.  I'm really digging the graphic look these days

I knew the 3 colours would make a great background for a silouette stamp so I used this old Stampin' Up! image on a sponged background.  I kep the rest of the card cas ... and couldn't bring myeself to stamp a sentiment on the front so it went inside.

And then, I just couldn't bring myself to throw out the beautiful scraps.  I saw them all sitting there on my craft table and figured I could add them together for a mosaic look .....

... and here is a close-up. 

You might recognize the sketch from CPS ... but too late to add it to the challenge.

That was fun!!

Thanks for dropping by.

Donelda

Take 3 Challenge - Snowflake - Take 3

Hello and welcome back to my final card this week from my Take 3 Challenge. 

Here is my Take 3 card:

Here is a close up of that embellishment ... it is the snowflake stamp that I am using this week.  To make it, I stamped the flake with white craft ink onto a transparency, then heat embossed with a mix of white and kelidascope embossing powder.  It turned out great in the end. I think I will make a bunch of these to help with my Christmas card creating.

Well, I am sad to say that this week's Take 3 Challenge is done!  But not to worry, there will

always be another one around the corner!!

Donelda

Snoopy's Chevron Stripes

I couldn't let the challenge to use Chevron Stripes over at Moxie Fab World go without adding this fun Snoopy birthday card!! 

I stitched vellum over the patterned paper and added a bit of scrap paper below snoopy to ground him.

So much fun to make!!

Donelda

Pet Sympathy

Okay, so I thought creating sympathy cards was hard enough but recently I was requested to create a sympathy card for a lady whose dog was dying and another lady whose horse was dying.  That, combined with the fact that I don't actually own any dog stamps (we are cat fans in our house) and no horse stamps either.  Luckily, I happened to find this horse image that I had stamped one time I was at a friends house (about 3 years ago).

So for the dog card, I happened to have a dog paw punch.  I decided to use it to create paw prints across the front.  The sentiment is created with my computer and printed onto some linen vellum (Papertrey Ink).  Inisde says "Giver of unconditional love. With sympathy for the loss of your pet"






For the horse sympathy card, I used this horse image that had been stamped a few times on vanilla cardstock.  I adhered it onto a few layers of designer paper and stitched around the edges with brown thread.  I added the sentiment "friend" (from Paper Tray, Papertrey Ink).  Inisde says the same as the dog card. 





These were so hard to make but I think I was able to get pretty creative and I like the understated simplicity of them.  Let's hope I don't have to make any more of these!!  So sad!!

Thanks for dropping in.
Donelda

Stamping with Markers Challenge - Moxie Fab

Hi fellow card makers (and anyone else who enjoys visiting my little corner of the www!).  Today I am playing along with the Moxie Fab challenge of Stamping with Markers!   I decided to try something fun.

Are you wondering how I got these colors onto a piece of black cardstock?  It's easy, let me tell you how to do it!   First, adhere your black cardstock with non-permanent adhesive to your work surface. We do not want it moving around.  Then, using a stamp positioning system (I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig), stamp your solid image (this one is from smARTworks) onto the black cardstock using a white or vanilla ink (I used Vintage Cream by Papertrey Ink).  Make sure you leave the Stamp-a-ma-jig in the same place!!  You can stamp again with more of that ink color to make it bright!  I stamped my image twice.  Make sure you clean your stamp well at this point.  Next the fun part.  Using your markers, color directly onto your stamp, layering colors and laying on as much color as you can.  Then, spray a light mist of water over top of the inked up stamp.  Be careful here ...not too much and not too little water!  (You might need to experiment a bit with this before trying it on your black cardstock)  Then, simply stamp the colors on top of the white image (it will be easy because you have left the cardstock and Stamp-a-ma-jig in the same place.  You can keep coloring and stamping various times until the color is how you like it.  I colored, spritzed, and stamped the marker colors 3 times to get this vibrant color!!  I used 4 markers: Summer Sun, Garden Green, Cameo Coral, and Ruby Red (all Stampin' Up!). 

What a great and different way to Stamp with Markers!!

To finish the card, I adhered a Vellum Sentiment Strip (the current Make It Monday challenge over on Nichole Heady's blog) with the sentiment (from Through the Trees, Papertrey Ink), sewed around a piece of designer paper (from Stella Rose 6x6, My Minds Eye), and popped up the focal image.  All of this was added to a white card base.  It is pretty Clean and Simple, one of my favorite styles these days!!

I can't wait to see what everyone else did with markers.  Hopping over to Moxie Fab to see.

Thanks for dropping in!

Donelda

Papertrey Ink - Make It Monday #2 - Vellum Sentiment Strip

I finally had time to create my card for this week's Make It Monday #2, Papertrey Ink's newest challenge!This week we were to create a vellum sentiment strip.  I decided to pull out Garden Of Life since it is an all time favorite of mine and I haven't used it for a while! 
 
I started out stamping the solid rose with Sweet Blush and then the outline with Hibiscus Burst.  I then layered the Aqua colored vellum over the bottom of the flowers and added the sentiment with white embossing powder (Spiral Bouquet stamp set). 

I had just dried a piece of seam binding that I had spritz with some Glimmer Mist (Electric Blue and Silver Sugar) and noticed how well it went with the vellum.  Tied it in a bow and added it on top.  Then, some aqua rhinstones for some bling and shine. 

I love the look of the vellum strip as you can still see the flowers behind it!  A great way to add a sentiment but not loose the stamping or designer paper in behind! 

Off to see what everyone else did with this challenge.

Donelda

Make a Moo or Two - Romance

Okay, so I am falling back into my old habits!!  I had created these Moos for the Moo or Two challenge Romance but am just getting around to posting them now ... and the challenge is done.  But it is okay becuase they were fun to create  anyway. 

Started with a background made with Fire Brick red distress ink and maybe some Walnut Stain in there too (Ranger).  Stamped the word LOVE diagnally across the backgrounds (from Wedding Day, Papertrey Ink) and sponged around the edges.   Then, I cut out 2 hearts from vellum and sewed them to the moos with brown thread.  These will be added to my stuff bins ... and will be used ... eventually on cards :-)

The next challenge is up so I'm off to see what it is....
Donelda

Lucy's Challenges #1 and #2

Hi everyone!  I was so excited when I dropped in to Lucy Abrams' blog today because she has started doing sketch challenges.  Her first sketch was posted Friday HERE and then her second sketch was posted this morning HERE.  Lucy designs for Hero Arts and is an amazing Clean and Simple card maker.  I decided to play along with both sketches since they were both fantastic. 

Here is the first sketch and my take on it.  I kept pretty true to the layout.  The truth is I've been meaning to try my hand at these rosettes that have been all over blog-land these days.  When I saw the 4 items on the front of this first sketch I thought maybe I'd make 4 rosettes but once I got this first one done I realized it could be the "o" in the word LOVE and still fit the sketch. 

 

This is the second sketch and my take on it.  I love Jennifer McGuire's videos on using distress inks with embossing over top so I went with that technique.  I used the Cling Stamp Floral Garden from Hero Arts for the first time on htis card and I really like it.  What was I waiting for??!!  The sentiment is from Spiral Bouquet (Papertrey Ink) and is heat embossed in white over some vellum that I sponged with purple ink.  the  background is made by sponging Lavender Lace (Stampin' Up!) ink in the middle of some white cardstock and then adding Faded Jeans and Broken China (both Ranger Distress Ink) around the edges.  Finally, it is splashed with a bit of water. 

 

Thanks for dropping by today!  Do you enjoy sketch challenges??  If so, drop over to Lucy's blog and give her challenges a go.  I'm heading over there to see what everyone else did with these sketches!

Donelda

Using Vellum

I totally struggle to use vellum!!  It's not that I can't think of what to do with it ... it's that I can never plan a good way on how to attach it without the unsightly adheseve showing.  I know, brads are a great alternative .. but I'm not really a "brad girl" as I rarely use them on my cards! 

However, when I saw a few samples from Kristina Werner where she wrapped vellum around the front panel of the card... now that I knew I could do.

I set out to create a card.  I decided I wanted to "mimic" the Hero Arts stamp called Dandelion Frame (seen on page 68 if the current  2010 catalog).  I took a number of my silhouette stamps from smARTworks and created the panel.  Not so sure if I got the "mimicing" part exactly but I did it from memory.... Then, I added the sentiment (also from smARTworks) and the swirls (from Everyday Classics by Papertrey Ink) onto the vellum piece.   I wraped it, adhered it on the back and then put the whole panel on a white card base.

I am definately doing this again with vellum!!

Thanks for dropping into my little corner of the blogging world.  Have a great day and a great week!!
Donelda

Elegant Birthday Butterfly

This butterfly is one of my favorites! It is an individual stamp from All Night Media. I stamped it onto some vellum with Versamark ink and then heat embossed it with silver and cut it out. I continued the theme by stamping this amazing flower and sentiment on to the card base and used silver embossing powder. I don't have any silver paper so I used my silver marker and colored in a strip then cut it to the size I needed. I added this strip of Soft Sky paper that has some small scallops along the bottom. A white organza ribbon is the right added touch! I think I might save this one for my mom's birthday! Supplies: Stamps - Butterfly (All night Media), In Bloom , Damask Design (both Papertrey Ink); Ink - Versamark; Paper - Soft Sky, Whisper White, vellum (Stampin' Up!); Other - scallop scissors (Provo Craft), silver embossing powder, silver marker, white organza ribbon. Thanks for dropping in today!! Donelda

Loonie Stamper's Challenge - 83 and Daring Cardmakers Turquoise

The Loonie Stamper's Challenge #83 was to use your favorite set. I actually included two of my all time favorites in here from Papertrey Ink. Beautiful Blooms was one of the first sets ever released by Nichole and it continues to be one of my favorites (but Turning a New Leaf and Beautiful Blooms 2 might give it a run for it's money) and also Background Basics: Retro which I can't seem to stop using!!! I also decided to play along with the Daring Cardmakers challenge - use turquoise (but of course I'm late - sheesh!!) The leaves are stamped on some Linen Vellum from Papertrey Ink which provides such an awesome effect!! Off to see what the Loonie Girls picked as their favorite sets: Dee, Maria, Wendy, Regan, Jewels, Char Supplies: Beautiful Blooms, Background Basics: Retro, Vintage Picnic (all Papertrey Ink); Ink -Tempting Turquoise (Stampin' Up!); Paper - Smokey Shadow, Linen Vellum (Papertrey Ink), Tempting Turquoise (Stampin' Up!); Other - white buttons (Hero Arts), white embossing powder, white crochet thread. I've had so much fun today creating!! I have a few other cards I'll be posting tonight and tomorrow!!! I love weekends! Thanks for dropping in ! Donelda

Embellish Magazine Challenge - Take Care Owl

Note: this is 1 of 5 posts tonight!! Please keep scrolling down to see all the work I have done entering different challenges. I was just on a roll and kept going!!!

So the latest challenge over at Embellish Magazine is to create a card using Coral, Brown, Green, and to include owls. There is even a cute template over there for you to use if you don't have an owl stamp or anything like that.

I do, however...have an owl stamp that is...but I didn't use it on my card. Instead, I used this cute little template I made myself a while ago. It is based on these cute little owls that are on a pair of my old summer shoes. I created THIS card with the template a long time ago!!!

The semi-circle behind owly is a piece of white vellum with Polka Dots stamped onto it with white craft ink.

Supplies: Stamps - Autumn Abundance, Polka Dot Basics (Papertrey Ink); Ink - Chocolate Chip, Whisper White Craft (SU!); Paper - River Rock (I think that is green), Chocolate Chip (SU!), no name coral, vellum; Other - Chocolate Chp marker, coluzzle, Swiss Dot Dark Chocolate ribbon (Papertrey Ink), dimensional.

Thanks for dropping in. Remember...scroll down and see all my other challenge cards...this makes five in all....don't stop until you see my red and brown polka dot card....yup, keep going!!

Donelda

Tulip Luck

I love this tulip stamp that I bought from Cornish Heritage Farms (I believe it is retired - I got it on sale), however, I never think to use it!! I stamped this on some glossy paper and colored it in with my copic markers. Because the glossy paper was so thin (not typical cardstock stuff) placing the image on white cardstock washed out all the color. So, I took a piece of white vellum and colored it with oil pastels - orange. Then I used some Japanese Mint Oil to blend the pastel color around on the vellum ... and voila, orange vellum. I adhered the image to the vellum using brads then adhered it to the white cardstock. A simple sentiment and an orange card base finished off the card. Supplies: Stamps - tulips (Cornish Heritage Farms), sentiment is from Paper Tray set (Papertrey Ink); Ink - Black (StazOn), Basic Black (Stampin' Up!); Paper - orange (Bazzill), Whisper White (Stampin' Up!), vellum (Stampin' Up!), glossy paper is a transfer paper for transferring images ot t-shirts (unknown); Other - brads (Making Memories), markers (Copic). Thanks for dropping in. Donelda

Obsesssed with Clean and Simple - Take 1

Okay, so Jen over at the Splitcoaststampers is looking for a Design Team for the Clean and Simple challenges. - Fall session. Well, I totally doubt that I'll be picked but you all know how much I love that Clean and Simple style and the challenges set by Jen were so much fun!

So, I started...and like usual, I just couldn't stop!! I will be displaying all of my cards this week but if you can't wait, you can see them all on my Splitcoaststamper's gallery (see the link on the right).

So, here is my first entry based on the layout shown HERE by girlydecou. What a great layout!!

I really like how this card turned out. I don't usually use vellum because I hate trying to attach it! But I think it was a great alternative than ribbon for this card. I might even make a few others to send out for Christmas cards.

Supplies: Stamps-Snowflakes (Stampin' Up! - retired), Believe (Papertrey Ink); Ink - Vintage Cream (Papertrey Ink), Versamark; Paper - Night Sky Shimmer cardstock (Papertrey); Other - white embossing powder, pearls (K&Co.)

Oh yeah, and I'm also making this my Loonie Stamper's card #53. The challenge this week was to make a man card using the newest blue from Papertrey Ink. Well, I don't have any so I am substituting this blue from PTI instead :D (smart hey!!) and it kinda looks like a man card...maybe??!! Check out the Loonie ladies cards: Dee, Jewels, Maria, Wendy, Char, Regan.

Stay tuned tomorrow for another card I made for the Design Team call.

Thanks for dropping in!

Donelda

smARTworks Tea Party - inspiration cup

Susan picked an inspiration piece for us to use for this Tea Party (see the picture a few entries ago!). I loved the soft look of the cup and knew I wanted to make a vellum card. I've never made a vellum card so I wasn't sure how it would turn out but I like the results.

I started out making a card base out of vellum. Then, I stamped the flowers in blue and the stems and leaves in green right onto the vellum. I added the sentiment in the same green and a few lines along the top and bottom. Next, I added a simple piece of white cardstock underneath the stamping and one on the inside of the card where you could write a message.

A simple card but I think it is a great piece based on the inspiration photo.

Now you have to go see all the other Cookies to see what they created based on the same inspiration piece (see the links along the right of my blog). Did you create something based on this inspiration piece?? if so, leave a comment and a link so we can see it!!

Hey look Sarosa played along with us!! I love this girl, not only did she also use vellum on her card but she has the same blog layout that I have!! Two great minds.....??!! :-)

My computer is still "out of order". I will hopefully be up and running again soon. Sorry for the limited blog posts!!! Keep your fingers crossed that I will be able to recover some of what was on my computer!!

Donelda