Thursday, July 31, 2008

Faux Jenni Bowlin Ticket


So, I have really enjoyed checking out all the blogs of those who were lucky enough to attend CHA!! I love to see all the new stuff coming out in the scrapbooking and stamping world!! However, these items take "forever" to get to the few stores near me (if ever) and I try to not buy on-line!! So, when I saw the cute new tickets being released by Jenni Bowlin, I knew I had to try making my own!!


It was actually easy. Using my Tim Holtz ruler and my Ruby Red marker, I drew in the lines. Added a heard and some numbers. This sentiment from Alli Miles' Wedding Day stamp set fit into the ticket perfectly!!


As well, I actually used one of my Maya Road velvet flowers!! I find them so hard to use because they are so pretty!! But I am determined to break my hoarding habit!! So there is one on this card, along with some of the buttons from Great Grandma Mary's stash of buttons she had collected over the years. A bit of scrap ribbon and linen thrad and the whole card pulled together easily!


Julia challenged us this morning on the Ways to Use It Challenge #177 to use scraps on our card! Well, I've been totally into using up my scraps these days so I was totally "in the zone" to do a scrappy card. This entire card is made from my scraps (even the base LOL). I've got about 5 other "scrap" cards made too!! It's actually been fun pulling out some of these bits and pieces and pulling them together!!
Supplies: Stamps-Wedding Day (Papertrey Ink), heart (Rhonna Farrer); Paper-Whisper White, Ruby Red, Basic Black (all Stampin' Up!), polka dots (Making Memories); Ink-Basic Black, Ruby Red (Stampin' Up!); Other-black velvet flower (Maya Road), adheasive pearl (K&Co.), ribbon (Michaels), ticket corner punch (Stampin' Up!), linen thread (Stampin' Up!), floss (DMC), buttons (Great Grandma Mary's button stash), Ruby Red marker (Stampin' Up!), ruler (Tim Holtz).

Thanks for visiting!
Donelda

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Christmas in July!!


First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who left me a get better message. You guys are all soooo sweet!! I'm still hacking but feeling a bit better today! Also, I just want to warn you all that I am going to clean out and paint my craft room (YIKES). It should be okay, I've got a bunch of cards photographed and ready to upload so I should be able to do some posting while my room is out of order!! :-) just no stamping for a few days!!

Now, on to today's card..............................

What??? It isn't Christmas, yet!! But if you look on Sharon Johnson's blog No Time To Stamp? she has posted a challenge to make a Christmas card!!! So that is what I did.

Now, most of my cards and stuff I feel are pretty much okay, nothing spectacular. But this card...I've gotta tell you I am totally in LOVE with this card. I'm sure it is not everyone's style but for some reason, it does it for me!! (man, I sound like Jan Tink with her "I love myself" and all -- she's a hoot by the way...you have to check out her blog if you haven't been there before!! I love her sense of humour and her cards and projects are simply amazing!!!)

That main panel, started out as plain white!! I think that might be why it appeals to me so much. That I was able to take a plain white piece of cardstock and make a masterpiece out of it (or at least in my eyes that is what it looks like).

It was pretty easy, lots of layers and a little distressing was all it took.

Supplies: Stamps - Polka Dot Basics, Out on a LImb, Mixed Messages (all Papertrey Ink), Script (retired SU!); Ink - Basic Black, Old Olive, Cranberry Crisp, Close to Cocoa, River Rock (all Stampin' Up!); Paper-Whisper White, Cranberry Crisp (Stampin' Up); Other - crochet flower (Bazzill), ribbon (Walmart), silver brad (Stampin' Up!), Cuttlebug die, dauber (SU!).

Thanks for visiting my blog! See you again soon.
Donelda

Sunday, July 27, 2008

I'm Sick

I'm sick. Very sick. So sick that I didn't even feel like stamping today. That is not a good sign. I'll be back when I'm feeling a bit better!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Loonie Stampers Challenge #3

A fellow Canadian blogger and Papertrey Ink addict got together with a few friends and decided to have what they call "Loonie Stampers Challenges". One of them choose colors from Papertrey Ink and they all come up with a card! What fun! Well, I don't actually own any

Papertrey Ink paper (YET!!) but Jewels said I could find close matching paper and play anyway! Well, I was all over it today because the designer paper sitting out on my desk this morning totally matched the colors of the challenge!! I had to play!




The colors that Jewels picked were Kraft, Lavender Moon, Vintage Cream, and Summer Sunrise. I think I might have exploded trying to use that Summer Sunrise with the Lavender Moon...but the birds on my card were a perfect match!! The colors I used were both Stampin' Up! - Kraft and Almost Amethyst, with the Vintage Cream and Summer Sunrise being in the designer paper.

I am so glad I did the challenge this morning because I have been trying to use my Wedding Day set that Alli Miles (another fellow Canadian) designed for Papertrey Ink. I had just used it a few days ago for a thank you card and I knew I could use that pretty little swirl on this card but when I pulled out the case....that stamp was MISSING!! Yikes, panic!! I looked everywhere, carefully picked through my garbage can (thank goodness there is only paper in there), and got on my hands and knees to search the carpet! Finally, I was able to locate it behind my paper bin! Sheesh!! I have to be more careful!!

So, found it and used it along the bottom purple section of the card. I love this Kraft taffeta ribbon that Stampin' Up sells..it ties so nicely. I've been trying out "bows" more these days. It is still a struggle but I think they are getting better than they used to be.

Supplies: Paper-Kraft, Almost Amethyst (Stampin' Up to replace Lavender Moon and Kraft by Papertrey Ink), Aerial designer paper (Memory Box to replace Vintage Cream and Summer Sunrise by Papertrey Ink), Stamps - Wedding Day (Papertrey Ink), Ink- Versamark, Basic Black (Stampin' Up), Other-scallop scissors (Provo Craft), kraft taffeta ribbon (Stampin' Up).

Thanks for visiting.
Donelda

Friday, July 25, 2008

Papertrey Ink July Blog Hop - Use Vellum












Yeah, another Blog Hop with Papertrey Ink!! I love these evenings as we hop around from blog to blog getting all kinds of ideas from fellow Papertrey Ink addicts like myself!!

This month's challenge was to use vellum. Nichole has requested that in particular that she would have liked us to use the NEW LINEN VELLUM that Papertrey Ink will be carrying but, even if I had ordered it, it would have never gotten here on time so I used regular vellum on my project. But did you see that linen vellum...it is going to be a total HIT!!

Actually, I had so many ideas swirling around in my head that I had a hard time deciding what to do. But I opted for these cool butterfly wings!! I had originally thought of doing this project with transparency but love the look with vellum!!

I used an image from Microsoft clipart and printed it out on paper. I cut that out and traced it onto some light cardstock. Cut that out and inked it all up with lots of black ink!! You should have seen my fingers after that was done :-) LOL. Next, I used some markers to randomly ink up the one flower from the Green Thumb stamp set - you know, that flower that looks like a hollyhock or something tall !! I love that stamp for many purposes including the focal image but it also makes a great background too!! I used the "huff" and made the multicolored dots and spots on some vellum. Once that was dry, I cut it out and attached it to the back of the butterfly! Wow, what great color!!
The rest of the card is pretty straight forward. I am so into Clean and Simple these days!! I finally cut into my Two Scoops paper by Basic Grey. In fact, I cut 2 different sheets before deciding on this delicious version! What can I say, it was perfect. A little ribbon to off-set the heaviness of the butterfly...and voila, my vellum project is complete.



Now, off to see what everyone else did!!
Supplies: Ink-Basic Black (Stampin' Up), Markers in Garden Green, Pumpkin Pie, Ruby Red, Not Quite Navy, Summer Sun, and Cameo Coral (all Stampin' Up); Stamps-Green Thumb, Out On A Limb (both Papertrey Ink); Paper - Two Scoops paper Sprinkles and Very Berry Sundae (Basic Grey), Whisper White as card base (Stampin' Up!); Other - Vellum, Light Cardstock, Coluzzle, Black Ribbon (Stampin' Up), Dimensionals.

Edited at the last minute to add: Well, I just couldn't stop playing with Vellum this week!! So here is another card. For this card, I was so jealous that I was unable to purchase some of the new linen vellum from PTI that I decided to see if I could make some "faux linen vellum". I stamped my linen background onto the vellum using River Rock ink. If I did this again, I would probably use Creamy Caramel or maybe even Close to Cocoa. You can't really see the Linen too well but it might be better if you click on the image to see a larger picture. Next, I stamped my leaves and flowers. I cut a window in the white card base and then again in a Purely Pomegranate card front. I did some scoring around the opening I created for some definition - love that!! I stamped one of the beautiful verses from Out On a Limb inside, but you can see is through the vellum. Then I added some hemp and a small tag on the front to finish off the card. This was a "fiddly" card to make but I do like the end results!!

Supplies: Stamps-Text Boxed, Beautiful Blooms, Mixed Messages, Out on a Limb (all Papertrey Ink), Linen (Stampin' Up!); Paper-Whisper White, Purely Pomegranate, Wild Wasabi (all Stampin Up!); Ink-River Rock, Purely Pomegranate, Wild Wasabi, Basic Black (all Stampin' Up!); Other-vellum, hemp (SU!), hobby knife, home-made rectangle template, cutting tool (Fiskars), scraper used to score (Pampered Chef LOL), Cuttlebug and tag die.

Thanks for visiting!! See you again soon.
Donelda

Thursday, July 24, 2008

And the winner is....

.... Diane S. You are the winner of the blog candy!! Yup, I asked hubby to pick a number between 1 and 22 and he picked 16 - the number of your post! Congratulations!! I've sent you an email requesting your snail mail address so I can mail your package right away!! Thanks everyone for your kind comments!! Donelda

Color Inspiration Challenge #17


Today I got to play in my stamp room to my husbands dismay. He is out weeding the garden. I should be there too! I am heading out as soon as I add this blog entry!

I saw that today was the last day to enter Kristina's Color Inspiration Challenge #17. Although I had mentioned to her that she should give her reader's challenges when she held a live blog chat, I have yet to be able to participate until today!! Her color choice was interesting. Certainly not colors I would reach for naturally but that is the point...right...a challenge :-)

I knew I did not want the base of my card to be white. So I played around with the other colors for a while. I discovered that I had this awesome K&Co. houndstooth patterned paper that matched the Sage Shadow color perfectly so I went from there. I found it difficult to blend the red and pink in but decided to use buttons to represent the Red Rose color. When it was pulled together, the scalloped pink looked to plain for the "fancyness" of the rest of the card so I used my white gel pen to make some fancy doodles. Not so sure I like them now that it is done but I think it looks better than it did.

Don't forget to enter my Blog Candy draw. I draw for it tonight at 10:00!!

Supplies : Paper-Sage Shadow, Regal Rose (Stampin' Up), houndstooth designer paper (K&Co.); Stamps-Father Knows Best (Papertrey Ink); Ink-Versamark; Other-scallop scissors (Provo Craft), white embossing powder (Stampin' Up), white gel pen (Signo), thread (DCM), white button (Hero Arts), other buttons (unknown), white ribbon (Wrights).

Thanks for visiting. Donelda

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Last Chance for BLOG CANDY and Butterflies!


Don't forget to leave a comment on THIS POST telling me what you would like to see more of on my blog and I'll enter you to win the huge pile of Blog Candy! It's in celebration of making it over 20,000 hits!! WOW. Trust me, you want that Tim Holtz ruler!!

Now my butterfly card. This is one of my favorite layouts and one of my favorite sets from Stampin' Up. I have no idea if it is retired...probably as I know it's been on my wish list for a few years now. I saw it a very long time ago on THIS CARD by Kristina way back in September 2006 (Star of May on SCS). Kristina also has one of the best BLOGS ever. You must go check it out!! I finally ordered the set but believe it or not, this is the one and only card I've made with it. This is the reason I'm on a spending freeze ... I have to start using the awesome items I own and stop buying more!!

Anyway, back to the card. I love this layout!! You can make some awesome Clean and Simple cards with it, or you can really dress it up and make a multi-layered card with it too! Talking about Clean and Simple reminds me of THIS NEW BLOG by Natasha who also has THIS BLOG (another one of my favorites!). Her new blog features Clean and Simple design ideas and principles! She and the other girls on this new blog are great and I'm leanrning a lot!!

Anyway, back to my card (boy am I ever chatty today!). The card is pretty straight forward. A great way to use up a few scraps of cardstock and ribbon! See those staples...I almost never use staples on my cards but it just felt like the right embellishment on this card! :-) As well, you'll note that the sentiment which reads "Happy Birthday" is NOT in black but in the orchid color. For some reason, I always feel like the sentiment has to be black...but Nichole Heady is always using the colors of her cards for her sentiments so I had decided to try it on this card. It's good for me to get out of my creative box!!

Supplies: Paper-whisper white, tempting turquoise, orchid opulance, pink passion (all SU!); Ink-tempting turquoise, orchid opulance, pink passion (all SU!); Stamps-All through the year (SU!), Father Knows Best (Papertrey Ink); Other - Dazzling Diamonds (SU!), Staples (unknown), various ribbon (Making Memories), dimensionals.

Well, don't forget to go back to the original post and leave me a comment so you can be in the draw to win some blog candy!! Thanks for visiting!!

Donelda

Challenge card and Blog CANDY

Hi everyone. Before I tell you about my card, I want to remind you about my BLOG CANDY GIVE AWAY. Go to this entry and leave a comment. Tell me what you would like to see more of here on my blog by Thurs at 10:00 and I'll enter your name into my blog candy give away!!
Okay, now on to my card today.
I saw the colors for today's Color Challenge #176 on SCS and loved them. I also knew that they would go great with this stamp set that I have recently purchased and have barely used!
I stamped the owl on vanilla cardstock using Chocolate Chip ink. Then, I drew a vertical pencil line along the right of the image, very lightly of course, and stamped the hello sentiment 4 times. I guess I could have just used the stamp-a-ma-jig but I felt that the line was quicker and easier. Once I was sure the ink was dry, I erased it. Layered this focal image onto some River Rock paper. I was going to put this onto the Soft Sky card but felt it needed a little something more. I found this awesome blue tinted vellum in my scraps so I added a small layer under the River Rock. I really like the effect!!
I used the small leaf/pinecone image from Lovely as a Tree set with Versamark to create a little bit of interest on the background. Added some double stitched ribbon in River Rock and voila, a finished card!!
Thanks for dropping in! Don't forget to enter for my Blog Candy!!
Donelda

Monday, July 21, 2008

Blog Candy!!!

Hey, look at my counter!! I was away camping and when I arrived, my counter had hit 20,000. Can you believe it?? I certainly can't.

So, to thank you, my faithful readers and drop in visitors, I would like to give away some blog candy!!! I have pulled together a whole bunch of yummy things!!


There are lots of letter stickers and rubons, some from SandyLion, Carolees Creations, EK Success. As well, there is a package of "cardstock stickers" from Cosmo Cricket. It is called the Souvenir collection and I thought it could work on cards or scrapbook pages so if you do either you'd be able to use all of these. Also, there are some very cool mini frames that I found at my local dollar store. I bought them to use on cards but again, would be perfect for scrapbooking too!! I have some flower and butterfly bling, some mini clothes pins, some bright tags, a few chip board ovals, and three 2x2 pieces of Stampbord (you can check out how to use it on their website - it is fun stuff). I've added a small assortment of interesting brads (dragonflies, hearts, and bright circles). Finally, if you look up at the top, you will see a Design Ruler by Tim Holtz. This is THE ruler of all rulers!! It is truely amazing and I can't believe I actually crafted without it!! Check out Tim's video here which shows you all the details and how great it actually is.


Well, how do you win this fabulous candy?? All you need to do is leave me a comment and let me know what you would like to see more of on my blog!! I aim to please and that is easier when I know what my devoted readers (while few in number) are looking for!!
I know some of you have indicated that you have trouble leaving comments here on my blog (I've tried to fix that but I have no idea what the problem is, sorry). So, if you can't leave a comment here and would still like to be entered, go to my SCS gallery and private message me from there.
Leave a comment here or private message me from SCS with your thoughts by Thurs July 25th at 10:00 pm (Mountain time) and I will enter you into a random draw for the goods :-)

Thanks and good luck!!
Donelda

20,000 visits means BLOG CANDY!!

Thursday, July 17, 2008

New Fun Toy - Mica!

When I was first started out in this crazy hobby called paper crafting, I would purchase those Creative Keepsakes books that tought you the basics of scrapbooking and techniques. I loved them!! I still browse throught them once in a while!

Anyway, I had remembered seeing a cool project done using something called Mica. When I was at the stamp show in Airdrie a few months ago, I saw a package of the stuff so I bought it! Since then, another stamping friend (Hi Robin!!) has also become interested in this product. So, what is it?? It's actually a rock! But this rock is cool...it is in many many layers that you can pull apart to the point of being transparent. And it is totally heat resistant so you can emboss til the cows come home..if you want to. My Mica is from a company called US Art Quest and it is the regular tile size but you can get it in many different shapes and sizes, all the way down to "dust" !! Go have a peek!

For my card, I wanted to try stamping between 2 thin layers of the mica. So I started by seperating one piece of mica til I got the 2 thinnest pieces I could get. Then, on one I stamped my wheat image using StazOn Black. It is like stamping on a transparency so you need to be careful that it doesn't slip. When it was dry, I used a small bit of Tombow Mono Multi glue behind the black image and along the very edges to glue the two sheets together. I wanted to add some color so I used my alcohol inks in butterscotch and a little caramel and put some color on the back of the image.

The rest of the card is pretty straight forward. I am proud to say that the layout is a Donelda original. I don't often come up with original layouts but I had thought of this and sketched it into my creative journal a while ago so I thought I'd actually use it!

You may wonder where all the texture came from on the Pumpkin Pie and Summer Sun pieces. Well, a long time ago, I made some textured paper by misting it with water, crumpling it, and then ironing it flat. I made A LOT of it a while ago and I'm still slowly using it up. If you were to look, you would noticed it in a number of my projects over the years in my SCS gallery. It is especially great for making leaves and flowers but also for great background paper - you can see some in this project, this project and this project. You will note that on these projects there are some red, purple, and yellow texturized paper. I think the colors you see on my current card came from a different scrapbook page where I made leaves for a fall family photo shoot!

Anyway, that's my first project using Mica! If any of you have used mica and have some great ideas to share, I'd love to hear about them!

Supplies: Ink-Basic Black; Paper-Summer Sun, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black (all SU!); Stamps - Wheat (Cornage Heritage Farms), Simple Little Things (Papertrey Ink); Other - Mica (US Art Quest), Alcohol Inks (Ranger), Stamp a ma jig (EK Success); Coluzzle.

Wow, was I ever long winded tonight! I try to keep my blathering to a minimum....but I guess it got the best of me this time.

Thanks for visiting. Donelda

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Matching Card


Here is the card I made to go with my neices frame which you can see in the previous post!
You have to check it out and tell me if they go together (hehehe).
The card is pretty straight forward, the background is stamped with some flowers from Green Thumb by Papertrey Ink using Lavender Lace (SU!) ink. I had tried Versamark but it left no stain on this type of paper.
I stamped the oval from Papertrey Ink's Borders & Corners {Oval} set using the same ink color. Then I used my Provo Craft scallop scissors to cut carefully around the oval. I covered my cutting "oops" with some more home-made prima flowers. Their centers are filled with rhinstones for a little bling!! The sentiment is from Paper Trey (also from PTI, if you didn't guess). I love this simple layout!
I think it matches the frame quite well (easy when you use all the same products, hehe). It was so nice to make something really girly for a change :-). For a supply list, see my previous post.
Thanks for visiting. Remember, I'm watching my counter and have a growing pile of candy here!!!
Donelda

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Name Frame for Karis



Hello everyone! We are back from our holiday and we had a wonderful trip!! Earlier today I was able to visit the stamping ladies at the Operation Olds, a group of SCS friends that got together for the weekend. It was great seeing some friends and meeting some new ladies! Seeing all the great things they were creating made me want to rush home and start creating myself.


I started out with this - another name frame. This is the 3rd of 4 siblings, my neices and nephews, that I've made frames for. This is my neice and she is such a girly girl that I decided to use lots of flowers for her frame. You can see the other 2 frames I've already made HERE and HERE.


Just a note, I do not have permission to publish any of their pictures on my blog so I feel it is only appropriate to block them out!! It is too bad because these kids are georgous!!


While the turquoise flowers are purchased, the light and dark purple flowers are all punched and then made into "faux prima's" using my embossing stylus and soft pad. Inside each of the purple flowers is a turquoise rhinstone and a clear rhinstone in each of the turquoise flowers. You might notice the purple flower there for the dot of the i ....well, inside that flower is something a little special.... a small flower jewel by Heidi Swapp -- the cutest! You can always click on the picture to see a close up.


Supplies: Stamps - none :-); Ink - Lavender Lace (SU!); Paper - patterned paper is Creative Imaginations, Eggplant Elegance, Orchid Opulance (SU!); Other - flower punch (EK Success), flower rhinstone (heidi swapp), turquoise and clear rhinstones (unknown); white gel pen (Signo), black marker (Zig), Coluzzle (Su!), turquoise flower (unknown), Metal confetti (Making Memories), embossing stylus (unknown), soft craft pad (SU!).
Well, I hope that Karis likes her frame! Wouldn't it look good on the door of her bedroom :-) And it was so much fun making a girly project!! Drop in tomorrow to see the card I made to go with this frame.
Thanks for visiting. It is good to be back creating!
Donelda

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Off to USA.....

Well, we are off on holidays. If you need me, I'll be somewhere around here ------->

I'll be gone for a few weeks. Once I'm back, I'll be posting again :-)

Donelda

Monday, June 30, 2008

Knotty Card


I made this card for a SCS challenge. We were asked to use knots on our cards. Lots of stampers knotted their ribbon which I never even though of, sheesh!! When I read the challenge, I knew I wanted to do somethingg with french knots.
I stamped the Maya Road flower with a craft ink and then used clear embossing powder. I then layered my elements and decided where I would pierce the many holes for the french knots. I used DCM floss in yellow, green and brown. The brad is a Build a Brad from Stampin' Up. I stamped more polka dots on vanilla for the top of the brad. The dots on the edges are hand drawn with a black marker.
I see my counter is increasing...and I have blog candy waiting...but I'll be away for a few weeks on holiday so I'll be missing in action for a few weeks. I'll see you as soon as I am home =)
Thanks for visiting.
Donelda

Friday, June 27, 2008

Teacher Cards

This card was totally inspired and cased from Alli Miles' card that you can see HERE. If you haven't visited Alli's blog, you definately should poke around there for a while. She is an amazing card maker!!

One big difference is that I don't own a great apple stamp like hers so I had to make my apples. To make these apples, I cut a 1 1/4" circle out of So Saffron cardstock. Then I used my scissors to cut a slight dent in the top. I used a sponge dauber to rub on Ruby Red ink leaving some of the yellow showing through for the apple's highlight. The stem and leaves are also hand cut. The letters are stamped with versamark and embossed with white embossing powder!!
To the card, I added some apple soap and an apple shaped note pad for an end of year thank you gift! I hope the teachers liked it!!
Supplies: Cardstock-Kraft, Basic Black, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Wild Wasabi (all Stampin' Up!),lined designer paper (unknown); Ink-Ruby Red, Basic Black, Versamark (all Stampin' Up!); Stamps-Trajan Monogram Ed, Limitless Labels (both Papertrey Ink); Other: white embossing powder, sponge dauber.
Thanks for visiting.
Donelda

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

June Blog Hop with Papertrey Ink!

Yeah, it is Blog Hop time again!! This is such a fun event where Nichole from Papertrey Ink gives us a challenge. Then we all upload them on our blog or PTI gallery and spend the evening getting inspiration from everyone!! It is so much fun.


This month, the challenge was to use acetate or transparencies in our creations!



I had so much fun creating this trio of cards. I let Heather (pine is here) inspire me this time. Not only did I use her favorite cardstock color (Kraft) but I used paint on my stamps. Here's the story.....


You see, I bought the Aqua Mist twill tape because it looked so yummy but the ink was out of stock....so, I had this awesome twill but nothing to "match" it colorwise. But I decided not to let that stop me. I pulled out my acrylic paints and started experimenting to see if I could come up with a color to match my twill. And I did!! I used a lot of white, a little green (that I bought to match SU! Mellow Moss) and a small little bit of a royal blue color. Voila, Aqua Mist paint! You can check out Heather's blog HERE for a great demo on using paint and your stamps.


I love the end results! I love the color combination! Where is the acetate??? Well, that little butterfly on the front left is acetate. On the front right card, the leaf is stamped on acetate with Versamark and then embossed with white embossing powder. Then I painted my Aqua Mist paint on the back and attached it to the card with dimensionals. Although I was going to trim the painted part to be straight, I really liked the "loose feel" that the uneven painted edges gave the card, so I left it. The card in the back has the most acetate. I stamped the butterfly on acetate using StazOn Jet Black. Then, when it was dry, I turned it over and painted my Aqua Mist paint onto the back. I even made a darker tint to paint onto the back wings (looks great in real life, you probably can't really tell in the photos). Then, I cut it out and set it aside. Next, I stamped the flowers onto another sheet of acetate. I attached this sheet to my Kraft cardstock using some eyelets which I had in my stash that are almost a perfect match to the Aqua Mist color as well. Then, I attached the butterfly to the flower acetate layer by using dimensionals. Here is a close-up!


Here are the 3 cards individually so you can see some of the other details. Yes, I used the same home-made Aqua Mist paint on my Polka Dot stamps for some of the backgrounds and also the leaf stamp from Beautiful Blooms (I love that leaf stamp!!).




Well, I hope that my cards inspire you some. I am off to check out all the other blogs and get more great inspiration!!

Supplies: Cardstock-Kraft, Basic Black, Whisper White (all SU!); Stamps-large butterfly (All Night Media), small butterfly (Rubber Stampede), Beautiful Blooms, Polka Dot Basics, Green Thumb, Text Boxed, Simple Little Things (all Papertrey Ink!); Ink - Versamark, Basic Black (SU!); Other- Aqua Mist Twill (Papertrey Ink), acetate (unknown), white embossing powder, acrylic paint, sponge brush, eyelets (unknown).

Thanks for visiting.
Donelda

Monday, June 23, 2008

Exhausted !


Does it happen to you?? You are exhausted after a weekend of camping, come home on Sunday night, get a good night sleep in your own dry, warm, bed and then feel even more tired the NEXT night?? Well, that is exactly where I am ..... exhausted :-)

Anyway, I thought I'd leave you with our little friend who visited us while we were camping. He really enjoyed the peanuts we brought for snacking!

Have a good evening.
Donelda

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Yoga Tea Anyone???


My friend has a new job and is moving to Edmonton. For a farewell present, I decided to buy her some of her favorite tea that she buys when we go out for lunch -- Yoga Tea. Since it came in this boring brown paper bag, I obviously HAD to dress it up a bit, right ;-) As well, Sharon, over on her blog No Time To Stamp? has given a challenge to use "hot or cold" in a card. Well, it isn't a card but it uses a "HOT" :-) I hope this counts!! I know with Sharon it is all about having fun so I know it will be fine. Head over and see her card, it is amazing!!!


This little mouse is a stamp I got from my SU! demo, it didn't come with a name but I think it is one of the promotional stamps that demo's get for giving away... I think.


Anyway, I stamped him with black ink, then watercolored him in with Purely Pomegrante and Chocolate Chip classic inks. I also added a bit of black for the shading on the saucer and in the teacup. I matted this onto a piece of Purely Pomegranate cardstock and then onto a large scallop circle (thanks for sharing your Marvy punch Robin !!). I used the individual small polka dot stamp from Polka Dot Basics (Papertrey Ink) to make the dots around the scallops. I added some Purely Pomegranate double stitched ribbon around the whole bag. Finally, I finished it off by using some letter stamps to spell out "yoga tea" and matted it on a bit of PP cardstock.
I added this little gift to a basket of "tea things" and hope my friend will like them all!
Thanks for visiting.
Donelda

Wet and Tired!!

Well, we are back from camping and it poured today!! We managed to get packed up in the rain and made it home. I am exhausted, turns out I don't sleep at all when camping. It was after 3:00 am both nights before I was able to fall asleep and then up at about 7:00 am both mornings!! That is not enough sleep for me. I'm going to take a small nap this afternoon and I'll probably hit the hay early tonight so no stamping from me today. Maybe I'll get a little something done on Monday night :-) Enjoy your Sunday evening everyone!! P.S. Don't forget to keep checking back. I am watching my counter and getting ready to announce some Blog Candy soon!! Donelda

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Good Bye to a Friend and Coworker


We are going camping this weekend so I'll see you all on Mon.

My friend and co-worker is leaving to go on to bigger and better things!! We got her a gift certificate for one of her favorite shops. I was asked to make a card for it to fit into.

Since it was square, I decided to use one of my new 4 1/4 " square envelopes as a size guide. I made this square card with a gate fold. The main image is only attached to the left side of the card and it opens there.

I love this tree from the Lovely as a Tree set (Stampin' Up). I've longed for this set and decided I'd better get it before this catty retires...you just never know. I watercolored the tree using my ink pads. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink (Mixed Messages).


On the inside, I made a pocket for the gift certificate to slip into! It was a simple but fun card to make. I hope she likes it and the gift certificate!!


Supplies: Cardstock-Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip (SU!), Old World Stack (Die Cuts with a View), Watercolor paper; Ink- Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Mellow Moss, Garden Green, Basic Black,(SU!), Black (Archivers); Stamps- Lovely As A Tree (SU!), Mixed Messages (Papertrey Ink); Other- watercolor brush.

Thanks for visiting!
Donelda

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Farewell Boss

Hi to anyone out there who might still be reading my blog. I know I've not been posting much lately. June is such a busy month with soccer practice, a bunch of birthdays, Father's Day, the end of the school year events, work is really busy this time of year...... what can I say??!! As well, we are going camping this coming weekend so I won't be able to make anything new. Perhaps next week things will slow down enough to get more stamping time in. I hope you all keep coming back :-)

My boss is leaving to go work in a neighboring school division. We got her a gift certificate from one of her favorite tack shops. The gift certificate is really long and comes in a really big and long envelope. So, I was asked to make a "western" style card to put the gift certificate in.


I borrowed the horse image from Chris (thanks again Chris!!). Stamped it on vanilla cardstock with chocolate chip ink. Then I stitched around the vanilla with brown thread. I lightly sponged around the edge with chocolate chip ink. Then I added some brown hemp and a few brass brads. Next, I stamped the Riveting sentiment onto vanilla cardstock with versamark and embossed it with copper embossing powder. I attached that to a copper vellum tag and added it to the other end of the card for balance. I added the brown designer paper and stamped the paisly image from Stampin' Up using versamark to get a subtle look on the background.


When I looked at the finished card, the horses looked like they were floating so I used my sponge dauber and put a little bit of chocolate chip under thier hoofs.....ground for them to run on!!!


Thanks for looking,
Donelda

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Father's Day Tree

I love the new Father Knows Best stamp set from Papertrey Ink (well, it's not new anymore since I think there have been 2 releases but it is from my newest bunch of stamps ordered from Papertrey Ink!). This tree is fantastic!!!


This card is pretty straight forward. It is the card I gave my wonderful husband to remind him how great a father he really is. You can't see them very well, but there are 3 glass seed beads attached in the bottom right corner of the card!


As well, I'm giving him this too. It is inspired by THIS one that Debbie Olson made! I love it and so did my husband.











Card Supplies: Cardstock-Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla (SU!); Designer paper (K&Co.); Stamps- Father Knows Best (Papertrey Ink), Ink-Creamy Caramel, Chocolate chip (SU!); Other-twine (from a friend - thanks Carol!)

Frame Supplies: Paper-Basic Grey; Stamps-Father Knows Best (Papertrey Ink); Ink-Chocolate Chip (SU!); Other- coasters (unknown), hinges and metal photo corners (Making Memories).
Thanks for visiting.
Donelda