Wishing You Well, Dawn McVey Style

Yes, I am totally in love with Dawn McVey`s awesome color sense. I saw THIS card and instantly loved the look. I decided to see if I could recreate it. Well, here is my card. Not quite as awesome as hers I`d say. She just has that ability to pull it all together!! I just love the Bitty Dot paper from Papertrey Ink and used lots of it here on this card!! Supplies: Stamps - Every Day Classics (Papertrey Ink); Paper - Kraft (Stampin`Up!), Dark Chocolate, Summer Sunrise, Raspberry Fizz, Select White and Bitty Dots paper in Dark Chocolate, Raspberry Fizz, Lemon Tart, Summer Sunrise (all Papertrey Ink); Ink - summer Sunrise (Papertrey Ink); Chocolate Chip (Stampin`Up!); Other - corner rounder, scallop scissors (Provo Craft). Thanks for dropping in! Donelda

Saturday Spotlight - Halloween ... but not Halloween

(Note that this is my 3rd post for today...cruise down to see them all) So there is a new challenge blog out there called Saturday Spotlight with Hidden Potential . What a great name hey!! It sounds like their challenges are going to be lots of fun...like their very first one - It's Halloween...but NOT! They started out with a bang challenging us to create a halloween card....but without using halloween stamps!! What!!?? At first I was a bit concerned that I would never figure out a way to do it but laying in bed late last night it came to me....my favorite scribble cat would be perfect!! I decided to go with a Michelle Zindorf brayering style and add the cat in front of a full moon. My favorite part are the clouds in the sky....I did that by swiping my Chocolate Chip ink pad directly onto the paper. I was just "winging it" so I was so glad it turned out. A few brads and a sentiment and voila, a halloween card without one halloween stamp used!! Supplies: Stamps - Scribble Cat (All Night Media), Everyday Flexible Phrases (Stampin' Up! retired); Paper - Whisper White, Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!); Ink - Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip (SU!); Other - 1 1/4" circle punch, Post It notes, corner rounder, brads, sponges. I can't wait to see what everyone else does. And if this is the first challenge on the Saturday Spotlight blog, I can't wait to see what's next!! Donelda

CAS 35 - Pillow Inspiration

The most recent Clean and Simple challenge on SCS is to use a pillow site to find inspiration. I love inspiration challenges. I found THIS pillow and knew I'd be able to use it for inspiraiton!! As well, I saw Kristina Werner do some doodling on THIS card and wanted to give it a try...and knew this would be a great opportunity!!

Supplies: Stamps - Spiral Bouquet, Demask Designs, Text Boxed (all Papertrey Ink); Paper - Whisper White, River Rock (Stampin' Up!); Ink - Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!); Other - white gel pen (Signo)

Thanks for dropping in!!

Donelda

Verigated Color Blocks

I little while back I saw an awesome card created by Donna, one of my fellow Design Team members form smARTworks HERE. I loved her veragated images and was determined to try my own. I pulled out this old Stampin` Up! set and got to work. I stamped the 3 images and cut them out. Then, I picked 3 colors of Copic markers and colored each image one of the colors being sure to use more color on the bottome than the top. Then, I took the Blender Pen - which doesn`t blend at all, it actually removes color - and colored it from the top and down some of the way to make the top of the images ligher in color. The effect is great. I adheared them to the card with a bit of ribbon and added the sentiment. I wish I had picked a blue instead of the yellow but I was thinking sunflower at the time of coloring and I don`t have a great Copic blue. Ultimately I think the colors are weak but it is a nice effect individually. Maybe I`ll pull this card apart and make 3 individual cards with each of these images. Thanks Donna for the great inspiration!! And thanks for dropping in!! Donelda

**All NEW** smARTword Challenges!!!

Well, the smARTworks Design Team is at it again!! You might have noticed that we haven't done a "tea party" challenge for a while!! Well, that is because we've been cooking up something fun!! A Challenge!! You can find all the details over at the ALL NEW smART Word Challenge Blog. Basically, we will provide ONE WORD as inspiration on the first of each month. This months word is FALL -- what a great inspiration word!! If you visit the challenge blog, each week our challenge hostesses will be posting inspiration cards created by the Design Team just to get your creative juices flowing. Head on over as the first card is up!! There are smART bucks up for grabs so come on over and get playing along!!

Quick Card Set

I needed to build up my card stock at is was getting low. So I took this Clean and Simple layout and quickly pulled together a few cards. I used up this lovely designer paper by Scenic Route. I might have to go get some more for Christmas cards.

Supplies: Stamps - Wishing You, Faux Ribbon (Papertrey Ink) ; Paper - Very Vanilla (Stampin`Up!), Designer paper (Scenic Route); Ink - Basic Black, Chocolate Chip (Stampin`Up!); Other - velvet flowers - gasp I actually used some (Maya Road), brown and red flower (Prisma), green button (Hero Arts), black brad (Stampin`Up!), Vintage cream satin ribbon (Papertrey Ink), striped ribbon (Stampin Up!), linen thread (Stampin`Up!), oval dies (Spellbinders), Cuttlebug, sewing machine, cream thread. Thanks for dropping in for a visit!! Can`t believe it is October already. I guess I`ll have to create some Halloween items soon!!

Donelda

Robot Cards

Here is another card made with these loveable robots from Recollections. It also features another home-made word bubble - they are so much fun to make!! I added white gel pen to the bubble to make it appear more `bubble-like` The robots are colored in with Copics and ink and watercolor brush (I just don`t have enough Copics to do it all). I love this paper and it works perfectly with this stamp set!! Supplies: Stamps- Robots (Recollections), Birthday Basics (Papertrey Ink), letter stamps (Hero Arts); Paper - Designer paper - K-Bots (gears and ornage side) (Kaiser Craft), Cardstock - Whisper White, Soft Sky (Stampin`Up!); Ink - Jet Black (Ranger), Bordering Blue (Stampin`Up!); Other - Copic markers, white gel pen, black marker, dimensionals. Hope you have a great day. Thanks for dropping in!! Donelda

Wheel Image as Focal

I only have a few wheel images from Stampin`Up! When I bought them I really liked them but I find that I don`t use them very often. Recently, I saw that someone took theirs off the wheel and uses them like a flat stamp. I am tempted but I haven`t tried it yet. Maybe.

I did make a bunch of these cards using one of my all time favorite wheel images. I used versamark on the wheel and then covered it with white embossing powder. A bit of paper piercing and a sentiment and you get some quick and easy cards.

Supplies: Stamps - Garden Annuals (Stampin`Up! - retired), Simple Little Things (Papertrey Ink); Paper - Yoyo Yellow, Brocade Blue, Basic Black (Stampin`Up!); Ink - Basic Black, Whisper White, Versamark ( Stampin`Up!); Other - white embossing powder, paper piercer.

I hope you have a great stampin` kind of day!!

Donelda

Froggie Hi

I was admiring all the cards being created by using folded paper and Nestabilities so I thought I`d give it a try. Unfortunately, on my first attempt I kept the side straight. Sheesh. Anyway, I decided to create a little card out of it anyway. The main card base is made with paper that is two sided, the dots on one side and a solid-ish green on the other. It is sturdy enough to make a great card base, especially in this 3x3 size. I cut a second nestability from the same paper and using the solid green side, I stamped this little froggie on it. (this is a retired set from Stampin`Up! called Toy Box and I will never give it away!!) Colored him in with my Copic markers and added a bit of grass for him to sit on. I also had drew the word bubble around the sentiment `Hi` which comes from the Wise Owl Set from Papertrey Ink. The full sentiment is Whootin`Hi but I just inked up the Hi part. Supplies: Stamps-Toy Box (Stampin`Up! - retired), Wise Owl (Papertrey Ink); Paper- Limade (We R Memory Keepers); Ink - Jet Black (Ranger); Other - Lables One Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Cuttlebug, Copic Markers, white gel pen, black marker. Thanks for dropping in. Have a great week!! Donelda

Forever and Always - Watercolor Effect

I saw this watercolor effect demonstrated on Natasha's blog quite a while ago. At the time, I tried it out but I'm just getting around to posting the card now. Don't you just love this effect!! I do. I didn't have those awesome flowers that Natasha used so I looked through my pile of stamps and found this great domino stamp from smARTworks. I seem to use it a lot!! I used a blue and a purple for the painting but the effect makes it look like there are three or four differnt colors used. How cool!! Do you see that light aqua blue on the middle panel close to the top right - it comes from the blue....beautiful!! Kept the card ultra simple to allow the focus to be on the watercolor beauty. Supplies: Stamps-Domino Darlings Patterns (smARTworks), Wedding Day (Papertrey Ink); Paper - Whisper White, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!); Ink - I acutally can't remember for sure because it has been so long since I made them - it is possibly Brilliant Blue and Lovely Lilac from the Bold Basics (Stampin' Up!); Other - white embossing powder, white ribbon, dimensionals. You have to try this effect. I have a few other samples of this completed but not made into a card yet. You will be sure to see them some time in the future. Thanks for dropping in! Donelda

The Loss of a Pet

My friend Robin recently lost her kitty to old age. For many of us, our pets are an important part of our family and it is a very sad moment to lose them. For Robin, it was very sad so I wanted to make a card to send to her so she would know I was thinking of her. This inchie image was perfect so I stamped it onto some kraft cardstock and colored it in with my Copic markers. Then, I used a layout that I had seen over on Kurtis' blog HERE to finish the front of the card. The stitches are real thread even though I believe Kurtis seems to have used a sewing machine. Supplies: Stamps - Cats Galore (Inkadinkado), Beyond Basic Borders - sentiment (Papertrey Ink); Ink - Jet Black (Ranger), Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!); Paper - Kraft, Green Galore (Stampin; Up!); Other - brown floss (DCM), paper piercer, dimensionals. ; Here is hoping you have a great day!!! Donelda

Card Set - Clean and Simple Style

So I was enjoying THIS post from Lucy's Blog so much that I decided to create my own set. I had to use different stamps, of course, but I like the results. Very clean and simple but colorful for sure!! If you haven't been over to Lucy's Blog yet, you must...I love everything she does (as you can tell)!!

Supplies: Stamps-Espalier Background (Anna Griffin), Simple Little Things (Papertrey Ink); Ink - Basic Black (Stampin' Up!), Versamark; Paper - Brilliant Blue, Only Orange, Garden Green, Yoyo Yellow, Ridinghood Red, Sahara Sand (Stampin' Up!); Other - clear embossing powder, dimensionals, crochet yarn.

I hope you have an excellent day!! Thanks for dropping in.

Donelda

Blast Off Robot

I've seen Kristina Werner making word bubbles to add to her cards and I liked the idea so much that I wanted to make one too. I started out by stamping the sentiment. Then, using a pencil I drew the word bubble and then traced it with a black pen. I cut it out leaving a little bit of white. The robot was colored in using my new blender pen and Buckaroo Blue ink. I'm not totally sold on using these as I have limited control of the ink, I much prefer using a paint brush. But I bought them to use with my watercolor pencils and crayons...yet to try it though. Supplies: Stamps-Robots (Recollections); Paper - Lil' Buddy Bots (Pebbles Inc.), Orange texture (Bazzill), Basic Black, Whisper White (Stampin' Up); Ink - Buckaroo Blue, Summer Sun, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!); corner rounder, black pen, blender pen (Stampin' Up!), dimensionals. Thanks for dropping in. Enjoy your day. Donelda

smARTworks - Birdy Nest

Isn't this birdie cute!! I love him. He comes from the smARTworks set called Swirly Gigs. I stamped him on to watercolor paper and then following a tutorial I saw on Dave's (from Memory Box) blog, I watercolored him with twinkling H2O's and cut him out. Next, I created the nest. I cut small strips of brown cardstock (various shades of brown) and glued them together in the shape of the next. Then, I created the background. I cut squares of light blue cardstock and sponged darker blue around the edges. I added the stamped branch and some punched leaves (from paper painted with more of the yellow twinkling H2O), I adhered the whole thing together and added the sentiment. Supplies: Swirly-Gigs (smARTworks), Take a Bough (Papertrey Ink), sentiment from Of a Feather (Memory Box); Paper - Raspberry Fizz (PTI), Whisper White (SU), scrap light blue and brown, watercolor paper; Other - leaf punch, brown hemp, twinkling H2Os, 1 1/4" square punch, sponge. Thanks for checking in Donelda

Sad News

I am sorry that I have not been around commenting on anyone's blogs lately. My dad passed away on Thursday so we flew home for the funeral in Nova Scotia. It is very sad but he was very sick and the end of his life brought the end of a lot of pain for him. I will miss him very much!

Thank you card set

I love Lisa Johnson's Remember set that is sold by Papertrey Ink. I used it to create these thank you cards. I think the layout was even inspired by her (but again, when my computer crashed I lost all my inspiration photos....sheesh!!). If you haven't visited her site you really should! She has some amazing stuff there!! Supplies: Stamps - Remember (Papertrey Ink); Ink - Berry Sorbet (Papertrey Ink), River Rock, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!); Paper - Berry Sorbet (Papertrey Ink), River Rock, Basic Black, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Other - Circle and Scallop Circle dies (Nestabilities), white gel pen (Signo). Thanks for dropping in again!! Donelda

Sunshine Tilda

My blogging friend Chris sent me some Tilda's a while ago. Then, I bought this background stamp from her (she had purchased an duplicate by mistake and I was happy to take it off her hands!!). I figured I would put the two together. I had created this fun ribbon sun a while ago and decided that this little Tilda would be laying in the sunshink thinking of you!! This little card went to my sweet little neice who is just adorable...and would look just like this little gal except she has the sweetest blond hair!! Have a wonderful sunshiny day! Donelda

smARTworks - When Pigs Fly

When I opened my Cookie Challenge stamp set, I laughed out loud!! As you can see, this stamp is sooooo funny!! You could do a lot of great and original cards with this flying pig!! Initially, I couldn't imagine what to do, but once I got started, I began getting all kinds of ideas! This is the card I ended up with for the challenge. I stamped the flying pig randomly over a piece of white cardstock. Then I colored him in with Copic markers. I added Star Dust Stickles to the wings and set them aside to dry. Next, I added the sentiment to this flag and colored two white brads with the same Copic marker to get some pink brads. I also edged the flag with the pink marker. Once everything was dried, I pulled the card together!!

Wouldn't this be a great card to give to a friend who was about to do something "in their wildest dreams". I think this funny stamp just might get lots of great use by me!!!

Off to see the post showing what all the Cookies did with this stamp set (this will be challenge #12 at the bottom of the list):

Cookie Jar

Thanks for dropping in for a visit!!

Donelda

Kindred Spirits

I made this a while ago for a co-worker who was moving from our office to another. I will really miss her smile during our meetings!! So, I stamped the 3 drinks onto some white cardstock and then colored them in with my Copic markers and Stampin' Up markers (the center drink). I added some stickles on each to give it a bit of shimmer too! At that time, I hummmed and hawwwwed about what kind of sentiment to add when I saw it... this one out of the Simple Little Things stamp set (anniversary set given away in 2008 to customers who purchased 12 or more Papertrey Ink sets within the year - not for sale). It is perfect...hahahaha, I laughed so hard at the pun!!! Totally intended!!!! and perfect for the recipient!! Supplies: Drinks on square block (Stamp Craft), sentiment -Simple Little Things (Papertrey Ink), Ink - Brilliance Graphite Jet Black (Tsukineko); Paper - Pumpkin Pie (Stampin' Up!), brown (unknown), striped paper (Basic Grey); Other - markers (Copic and Stampin' Up!), Stickles (Ranger). Thanks for dropping in. Donelda

Ribbons and Paper

This card is not an original idea of mine but I lost all of my inspiration links when my hard drive crashed earlier this year. So, I can't remember who I cased this card from....my guess would be Betsy Veldman or maybe Melissa Phillips. I love both of their styles....so different than what I usually do and they both inspire me so much!! So, I love this little card, which is smaller than a general A2 card. The swirl is stamped with versamark and then embossed with white embossing powder. I love the ribbon, flower dies, and button that are layered over top!! A little sponging around the edge of the kraft and designer paper finishes off the effect. Supplies: Stamps - Build a Flourish (Gel a tins); Ink - Walnut Stain (Ranger), Versamark; Paper - Whisper White, Kraft, Cranberry Crisp (Stampin' Up!), designer paper (K & Co.); Other - Berry Sorbet satin ribbon (Papertrey Ink), button (stash), flower dies and Cuttlebug (Provo Craft). Thanks for dropping in!! Donelda

smARTworks meets Papertrey Ink!

Look at this ... smARTworks stamps combined with Papertrey Ink stamps...my 2 favorites!!

A while ago I was browsing through Anna Wight's blog Sassy & Sweet Notes and found THIS card. I instantly thought of this little plant pot that I have from smARTworks and decided to do some of my own planting!!

I stamped the pot image onto scrap cardstock and colored them in different colors using my Stampin' Up! markers. Then, I cut them out and set them aside. Next, I found some flowers that would be the right size for my pots from a Papertrey Ink set called With Sympathy. I stamped clusters of them onto a piece of white cardstock. Then I colored in the stems and added a bit of blue onto the petals (hard to see in photo unless you click on it to enlarge). Then, I adhered the pots over the clusters as appropriate. A bit of shadowing, matting and designer paper and the card is done!

Thanks for dropping in again today!!

Donelda

Thank You Raspberry Set

I love this raspberry paper! You might remember a whole set of cards I shared in THIS POST. Well, the lady who bought that set of cards wanted more cards like it. So I grabbed what I had left of the paper (Scenic Route) and whipped up a few more cards for her. This time I added some of that yummy Bo Bunny dot paper in red! It was a perfect match to the red raspberries. YUM!! Thanks for droppin in tonight. Donelda

Thank You Branch

Just playing around with the Take a Bough branch and some leaf stamps from the Beautiful Blooms set (both Papertrey Ink). As well, the card base is made from the relatively new New Leaf color and the leaves are stamped with the ink. A few people were concerned that the ink did not match the cardstock .... but it looks pretty good here!! {Thank you} for dropping in today to see my card!! Have a great and crafty day!!

Clean and Simple (CAS) - Crayon Cards

The Clean and Simple #31 challenge for this week is "Pop It Up". Well I can easily do that!! I actaully sat down last night and create 16 cards using dimensionals (I got on a creative run and didn't stop until late into the night...work is going to hurt today!). But unfortunately I didn't get any photos done. No fear, I've had these little cuties sitting and waiting to be posted! Very Clean and Simple!! The crayons are from Imaginisce (Teacher's Pet Collection - Crayons). I cut one of the crayons off so I could just stamp one at a time if I wanted. I stamped it onto scratch paper, water colored one in red and one in blue and cut them out. Then, I borrowed a red and blue crayon from my son and wrote the sentiment on the white card. Then using dimensionals, I strategically placed the crayon!! Enjoy your day!! Donelda