Camping Mini Album

Okay, here' s another album....

I bought a new magazine to take camping a few weeks ago and, wow, I have been so inspired!! It is called Mini Albums in an evening by Simple Scrapbooks. I have a million ideas for mini albums now! I am a total mini album fanatic and this magazine has just given me more ideas than ever. If you also like making mini albums then run, don't walk, to your nearest magazine stand and get this issue!!

So, my first inspired project is this Camping mini album. I decided to use some of the light cardboard that I have. While I could have covered it with designer paper, I decided that the cardboard was the perfect rustic look for my camping album!!

This entire book took me exactly 3 hours to pull together. One night I decided on which pictures to use and printed them out. Then the next morning, I worked on it from 8:00 until 11:00, exactly 3 hours of work and my book was finished!!

I used one of my favorite stamping sets, Fantastic Foilage (Stampin' Up!), to decorate the book. I used Old Olive and Chocolate Chip because I had camping themed embellishment sticker page I wanted to use which had olive elements in it. I added a bit of journalling but mostly just let the pictures speak for themselves.

One of my favorite parts are the circle tabs that I added to the side of the book. Each of these tabs have the date and the location of our camping adventure.

I made a number of "blank" pages so that I have room to include the many more camping trips we are sure to have in the future! I also added a

envelope with more of the tabs prepared so that I have the exact tabs to use in the future!

I bound the book with my Bind It All which made it a cinch to pull together!!

Supplies: Stamps-Fantastic Foilage (Stampin' Up!); Ink-Old Olive, Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!); Paper - Light cardboard (unknown), Olive texture paper (bazzill); Other - camping themed stickers (7gypsies), Letter stickers (Sandylion), Chocolate Chip marker (Stampin' Up), dauber (Stampin' Up!), coluzzle, Bind It All.

Well, I hope you are inspired by my mini album. Thanks for dropping in and visiting.

Donelda

Very Sentimental Anniversary Present!

I have spent almost a year working on this project! I wanted it to be perfect. (As well, I'm a bit of a procrastonator!! LOL). It will be going to my Mom and Dad in early October. I probably should wait until next year because that will actually be their 50th Wedding Anniversary, but my Dad is not healthy and I don't want to risk the chance of waiting for the year and having it not get to him at all!! So, it is a present to celebrate their 50th year of life as Husband and Wife, a little early.

I wanted the whole book to be elegant but not overwhelmed with lots of embellishments. So the pages are fairly clean and simple. I love the little collage on the front of the book! It was so much fun to make. I did this part while I was scrapbooking with my friend Carol (Hi Carol if you are reading my blog these days!!).

The pictures are copies of original wedding pictures. These original pictures are sadly in my mom's wedding album but the tape she used (yikes!) has all let go and many of the pictures have tape marks on them! For that reason, I am even more excited to make this book! These pictures will stay attached and not deteriate like the old book. I even copied the invitation which you can see on one of these pages.

I haven't included all the pages just a few so you can get the general idea of what the book looks like.

The book is actually made from cardboard that I cut to size and then, obviously, bound using my Bind It All.

Supplies: Paper-Simply Scrappin' Kit Today and Always {which includes the inside patterned paper, Very Vanilla, Blush Blossom, and Mellow Moss} (Stampin' Up!), front cover rose paper (Amscan), inside front cover (EK Success); Ink - True Thyme, Old Olive, Close to Cocoa, Versamark (all Stampin' Up!); Stamps - Together Forever, Forever Flowers (Stampin' Up!), Wedding Day, Favor It Weddings (Papertrey Ink); Other - tags are from Simply Scrappin' Kit (Stampin' Up!), Rub Ons (Deja Views), Large Brad (Makin Memories), velvet flower (Maya Road), cream flower (Bazzill), 1" circle punch (Stampin' Up!), ribbon (Stampin' Up!), sponge dauber, lace and buttons (grandma Mary's stash), pearls (K&Co.), Coluzzle, Chipboard swirl(Fancy Pants), key and heart charms (Dollar Store), hemp.

Thanks for visiting.

Donelda

Loonie Stampers Challenge #4 and 2 Ketches 4 You Layout

Some talented Canadian ladies over on the Papertrey Ink Forum got together and decided to start the Loonie Stamper Challenges. "Loonie" because they are Canadian, LOL!! Today the colors were picked by Deanna and they were great colors to work with. As well, she requested that we use the set Simple Little Things, a free stamp set from Papertrey Ink for customers who had purchased at least 12 full sets of stamps in their first year of business. Well, I have the stamp set and the colors (or at least their substitutes), so I had to play.

As well, I've been lurking over at 2 Sketches 4 You, a great new blog that offers some increadible sketch challenges. But I've not actually tried a sketch yet so I decided to pull the two challenges together!! This sketch is Kazan's Sketch #6.

I decided to do the majority of my stamping on the "vintage cream" (which is actually Very Vanilla by Stampin' Up since I don't own any of the Vintage Cream by Papertrey Ink ... yet!) I chose one of the awesome starburst-like flowers in the set and stamped using Chocolate Chip Ink (and no Dark Chocolate yet, either). Although the sketch has a larger sized mat under the main panel, I chose to keep mine quite small as I didn't want to overwhelm the chocolate color with too much orange. I used a small piece of Chocolate Chip for the sentiment rectangle and stamped the sentiment with Craft Very Vanilla ink. This stuff frustrates me.... stamping with this craft vanilla ink never seems to look right to me.... practice needed perhaps??

Anyway, I added a flower that I made. You start by punching a circle, making 5 little slices into the center and then rounding off the "petals". I used my embossing stylus to shape the flower as well. You can see my Home-made Flower tutorial HERE if you are interested.

Finally, I added the Aqua Mist twill along the bottom (and yes, this is official Papertrey Ink Aqua Mist twill -- I love twill and did get some of this with my last purchase). I remembered that I also have some eyelets that match the Aqua Mist almost exactly so I pulled one out and added it to the center of the flower.

Well, I hope this card lives up to the high standards that this very talented group of ladies have set. To see the three other members of the Loonie Stampers Challenge group you need to check out Jewels, Char, and Regan - their cards ROCK!!!

Thanks for dropping in.

Donelda

3 Dimensional Card

I have recently found a new blog that I have been enjoying! It is by Kim Teasdale called Paper in the Works. She makes the most beautiful cards in 3D -- you know, where you stamp and color multiple copies of the same image and then cut out just pieces and layer them using dimensionals. (Edited to add - Thanks to Marcia who reminded me that this technique is actually called paper toile!!) You can see HERE one of her great cards, and HERE is another one! They are simply amazing, arn't they??!!



Well, I decided to try it out for myself and -- wow, is it ever a lot of work!! I am in more awe than ever at Kim's talent!!



This card uses part of my hostess stamp set called A Little Bit of Happiness. I knew this would be the hostess set I got because I could see so much potential! However, this is only my 2nd card using it...man, I have to get stamping!! :-)

Anyway, I stamped just the flower strip of images twice using my StazOn black ink. Then, I used my ink pads and a watercolor brush to color in the various flowers. My favorite is the one the the far right! So cute!! I think I'll make a bunch of 3x3's using just that little image...wouldn't they be cute!! Anyway, I colored in all the images, cut out bits and pieces, mounted them on top with small pieces of dimensionals. I realize that it is a bit hard to see the layering... I should have taken a picture of it but I didn't. If you click on the picture to make it bigger, you can see it a bit better!



The rest of the card is straight forward. I used my Polka Dot Basics with Versamark for the background. I added a small sentiment "friend" so that my card says...."hello, friend". Just a bit of small scallops along the bottom edge.



Supplies: Stamps - A Little Bit of Happiness (Stampin' Up!), Polka Dot Basics, Mixed Messages (both Papertrey Ink); Paper - Pale Plum, Whisper White (Stampin' Up); Watercolor paper (unknown); Ink - Lavender Lace, Summer Sun, Cameo Coral, Old Olive, (all Stampin' Up), Jet Black (StazOn), Versamark; Other - small scallop scissors (Provo Craft), watercolor paint brush, a pair of really good scissors that makes all that cutting a little bit easier (Stampin' Up!).

A clean and simple card (to look at, all that cutting was far from simple!!). Thanks for dropping in!

Donelda

Card Positioning Systme #76

In the middle of the night....I thought of THIS!! I've been so into Inchies lately (I have a bunch of other cards that you will see soon enough!) all thanks to Cameldiva (Hi Diane~~). Then I saw the CPS Sketch #76 and figured I could combine my late night inspiration with the challenge.

As you can see it is clearly a Clean and Simple design!

I started out by stamping my Anna Griffin background stamp on the 6 different colors of cardstock using black ink and punched them out using a 1" square punch. Then, I used my white gel pen to color parts of the swirls. I sponged each of the squares with black ink and a dauber and used dimensionals to adhear them to a white mat. Added a small black mat and then adheared them to a 5" x 7" white card base (my most favorite card size to make!). Then, I wanted to add something to the edge as the sketch suggested so I used my Fiskars scissors and cut a fancy edge. To make it pop, I attached a layer of black cardstock on the back of the front side of the card.

No sentiment, I will add it inside the card! I hope you like my Inchie CPS card. I love making cards with multiple colors like this! You should give it a try!!

Supplies: Stamps - Espalier Background (Anna Griffin), Ink - Basic Black (Stampin' Up!), Cardstock- Whisper White, Basic Black, Ruby Red, Pumpking Pie, Summer Sun, Orchid Opulance, Ballet Blue, Wild Wasabi (all Stampin' Up!); Other - white gel pen (Signo), 1" square punch (Marvy), dauber (Stampin' Up!), fancy scissors (Fiskars).

Thanks for visiting. Donelda

LIfe is measured...

I loved the inside of Melissa Bickford's cards when I saw them on her blog Just Dandy! so I just had to try some myself!

I did two. On this first card, I used Cameo Coral and Old Olive together with the Beautiful Blossoms flower and leaf stamp. I added a sentiment from Out on a Limb. Then, using some post it notes, I masked off a large strip in the middle and added more of the same flowers and leaves. I used 2 different sentiments from the Simple Little Things set on the inside in black on top of the stamping.

Next, I made a similar second card, just changing the flowers and leaves, this time from Green Thumb.

I have really been trying to add a little bit of something to the insides of my cards these days. I really, really like this idea and will likely include it more often in the future in some form.

Thanks for visiting.

Donelda

See the bottom of my blog....

....sorry everyone...I was "playing" this little game on Treasure Oiler Designz blog ... couldn't stop myself...figured I'd better put it on my own blog. Caution...it is very addictive :-) Donelda

Papertrey Ink - CMWC17

Over on the Papertrey Ink forum there is a Casual Mid Week Challenge where someone provides a sketch and we all play along. I've never played before but this week's sketch, CMWC 17 by Mary K looked so intersting I just had to give it a try!!

So, I started out with about 4 other ideas that looked horrid! I almost gave up!! But then I looked at my stack of PTI stamps and imagined pieces of the branch from Out on a Limb punched out using my 1" circle and I got inspired!

I love Cameo Coral and Ruby Red together...and then add that to Chocolate Chip and I think this color combo is to die for!! I stamped the branches in Chocolate Chip. Inked up the flowers with Cameo Coral and then, using my marker, colored in the centers with Ruby Red. I then misted the stamp with some water and stamped it on top of the branch. After doing this, I punched out certain spots with my 1" circle punch. I have some extra's so you might see some more cards with this effect later on! Next, I stamped the sentiment on a piece of white cardstock using Chocolate Chip. I added some branches and misted flowers around the sentiment. I cut out a larger circle using my coluzzle (love that tool!) choosing to keep the sentiment to one side of the circle. Finished all the edges of the circles with some Close to Cocoa and a dauber to soften the edges and give some definition. I added a strip of Cameo Coral as the sketch suggested, however, I added the piercing on this strip and not on the card like the sketch suggested. I gave some more interest to this strip by stamping some individual flowers using Versamark ink.

To finish the card off, I added a little bit of glitter in the centers of the flowers on the smaller circles and just a few select flowers on the larger flower! I'm not a usual "glitter gal" but you can't go wrong with glitter....right??!!

Well, I had a ton of fun trying out this sketch. Thanks Mary K for such great inspiration! Maybe I'll give the next sketch a try too :-)

Supplies: Stamps-Out on a Limb (Papertrey Ink); Paper-Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Cameo Coral (Stampin' Up!); Ink-Chocolate Chip, Cameo Coral, Close to Cocoa (Stampin' Up!); Other - Coluzzle, Versamark, Ruby Red marker (Stampin' Up!), 1" circle punch (EK Success), Dazzling Diamonds (Stampin' Up!), dauber.

Thanks for visiting.

Donelda

Elegant Gratitude

I had a request for a card from a co-worker. She wanted something her team could give to their supervisor to say thanks for all the nice things she does.

Here is what I ended up making. I fell in love with this Overton House Designs paper called Mint Espresso Toile (with the reverse side being Chocolate Solid) by EK Success. Even the name sounds yummy! The card was a large 6" square card (so everyone could sign it). A piece of brown cardstock for the base went with the toile. Then, it was just a matter of layering some Soft Sky, Whisper White, the Chocolate Solid and the Mint Espressso Tiole in various sizes. I tied a bow on the front to balance out the sentiment. I'm still working on bow tying and, while it is getting better, this one was not one of the best I've done. The sentiment is stamped with Close to Cocoa inside an oval also stamped with Close to Cocoa. I've added a little swirl in Soft Sky just below the word gratitude (you can barely see it in the photo) and a small rhinstone for the dot of the letter i to give it a bit of bling!

I hope the reciever enjoyed the card.

Supplies: Stamps-Beautiful Blooms, Borders & Corners {oval}, Faux Ribbon (all Papertrey Ink); Paper-brown (Bazzill), Whisper White, Soft Sky (Stampin' Up!), Overton House Designs (EK Success), Ink - Close to Cocoa, Soft Sky (Stampin' Up!); Other - white gosgrain ribbon (Stampin' Up!), crystal bead (Swarovski).

Thanks for visiting.
Donelda

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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!!

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

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

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

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