Tulip Baby Welcome

Hi everyone!

I tend not to combine challenges and then, if I'm ever brilliant enough to do so it is usually a maximum of 2 different challenges.  So you can imagine my surprise when I realized that I could combine 4 different challenges without my head exploding!  LOL!

First up, the CAS-ual Fridays challenge was to make a baby card. Also, Use it Tuesday's challenge is also to make a baby card - in celebration of Heather's new arrival Clarie!  As it just so happens, I need one!

Then I saw these lovely soft colours on the Play Date Cafe challenge ... that would work!

and finally over at Our Creative Corner the challenge is Over the Edge, which I love but rarely think to do....(and I see I am too late to link it up for the challenge ... sigh!)

In the end, it all came together with this card:

Featuring 2 of my own hand-created stamps.  The background image is a new one - a starburst of sorts, and then my flower image - which I think can be used as a rose (see yesterday's card) or as a tulip as shown here.  It also features my home-made template for the Sahara Sand (Stampin' Up!) panel across the front (looks way more kraft in the image but is a much softer sand colour in real life!).

Here is a close up of the dimension.  Senitment if from Round and Round (Papertrey Ink anniversary stamp set).

This card was so much fun to make!!! Now I'm off to load it up and check out what all the other challenge go'ers made with these challenges.

Donelda

Valentine project Recap

This week at Crafty Creations Challenges #154 the challenge is to make anything but a card.  I had plans to do that but work has been keeping me away from my computer.  So, I offer up an old project I did many years ago as inspiration.  I made this box back in 2008.  White the idea of making a heart shaped box sounds intimidating, it is rather easy... you just need good liquid adhesive! 

And there is a tutorial on SCS right now!!

Hope this inspires you!  Head over to Crafty Creations Challenges and link up your project!

Donelda

Crafty Creations Challenge #153 - Valentine

This week's challenge at Crafty Creations Challenge is to create a Valentine Themed card or project.  We are being sponsored by Whiff of Joy this week so play along ... you might win a prize!!

Here is my card...

The papers come from one of my past Secret Sisters (thanks Linda).  I saw a lovely die in this shape, so in true Donelda fashion, I created my own out of cardstock.  The images and sentiment are from Papertrey Ink.

Now off to see what everyone else created from the Design Team playing along this week:

Peggy

 Jaime

Donna

Lindsey

Kathleen
Julemarie
Deena

Thanks for visiting.  Enjoy making a Valentine themed project.  Don't forget to link it up at Crafty Creations Challenges for a chance to win!

Donelda

The BEST Birthday card ever!!

Yup, today is my birthday!  And I just had to share this card - which will be my very favourite birthday card!!  My intelligent, creative, thoughtful, and wonderful son created this for me!  Can you believe how stinkin' cute this is!!

Check out that cute little inch worm.  I adore him.  And all the details.  I love how he added the blue blocks behind the clouds and the tuft of grass at the base of the flower.  And he popped everything up on foam dimensionals. 

He did such a great job!!  I love him so much!!

Thanks for dropping in for a visit in my corner of the www.  Have a great day.  I'm sure I will!

Donelda

Fall Thinking of You

I thought I'd better squeeze this fall card in before it gets too wintery ...

Some days I just can't get enough of those yummy Distress Inks (Ranger).  And look, I have used another one of my home-made Half and Half dies (like Papertrey Ink but just cardboard and traced by hand!). 

These warm fall colors are my favourite to create with!!

Hope you are having a wonderful day.  Thanks for dropping by.

Donelda

Line of Trees

(Note - this is my 3rd post for the day becuase today was the deadline for this card.  Scroll down to see more Play Date Cafe cards and scroll further to see my Take 2 for this week's Take 3 Challenge)

Over at Crafty Creations Challenges this week's challenge was to use Green, Purple, Silver and snow.  What a hard challenge this was for me.  I wracked my brain for days and finally ended up with this as my final card.  I think it was the snow that was giving me the hardest time! 

Thanks for dropping by.

Donelda

Embellish Magazine - Aqua, Pink, Kraft, and stitching

The colors on the latest Embellish Magazine challenge were just too tempting to pass up!!

I had to make baby cards with those yummy colors!!

I had drew the onsie and cut it out of kraft cardstock. I added the little duckie that is in the Limitless Labels stamp set (Papertrey Ink).

Supplies: Stamps - Limitless Labels, Polka Dot Basics II (Papertrey Ink); Ink - Aqua Mist, Sweet Blush (Papertrey Ink), Kraft White (Stampin' Up!); Paper - Whisper White, Kraft (Stampin' Up!), Aqua Mist, Sweet Blush (Papertrey Ink); Other - sewing machine, white thread, white gel pen (Signo), dimensionals.

Thanks for another great color challenge!!

Donelda

Blue Elephant

I really liked the colors from this challenge on the Stamp Away With Me blog so I decided to play!!

I decided to go with a baby theme because I had to create one of these cute little elephants!! I saw one like it on Julie Cameron's blog HERE (third little card down!). I think she created her's with a punch but of course I don' t have that punch, so I created a hand drawn template and went for it!!

I also decided to create some home-made buttons! They were a lot of fun! I stamped some lines onto a few punched circles and then covered the circles with epoxy circles. Then, I punched holes with my Crop-O-Dile and threaded them with some crochet thread. I'll definately be making more ... so easy to make buttons match your creation perfectly!!!

Supplies: Stamps - Polka Dot Basics II, Borders & Corners {square} {both Papertrey Ink); Paper - Raspberry Fizz, Lemon Tart, Ocean Tides, White (all Papertrey Ink); Ink - Ocean Tides, Raspberry Fizz (Papertrey Ink); Other - white grosgrain ribbon (Stampin' Up!), teal marker (Copic), white gel pen (Signo),black marker, clear epoxy circle stickers (Making Memories), Colluzle, hole punch (Crop O Dile), corner rounder (We R Memory Keeper), white crochet thread, dimensionals.

Well, thanks for droping by!! Hope you like my little elephant friend!!

Donelda

Welcome Home

We arrived home today from a short family holiday to Las Vegas. I had always said I would not take my underage son to Vegas (not until he was 21) but in the end, we went with friends who were taking their children. It all worked out and we had a great time.

I made this house warming card a few months ago for friends who moved into their new home. The background is created using my home-made cloud template!! The little birdhouse is one I hand drew and cut out.

Supplies: Stamps - Father Knows Best (Papertrey Ink), Of a Feather (Memory Box); Ink - Not Quite Navy, Wild Wasabi , Old Olive, Chocolate Chip (all Stampin Up!), Paper - Close To Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White (Stampin Up!); Other - 1" circle punch, white gel pen, brown marker, home-made cloud template, sponge, brown ribbon (Stampin' Up!).

I look forward to getting some new cards created over the next few days...too bad I have to go back to work. *wink*

Donelda

Embellish Magazine Challenge - Take Care Owl

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

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

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

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

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

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

Donelda

Welcome Bird House

This bird and tree are from a set called Of a Feather by Memory Box. It is a great and versatile set! I decided that the bird needed a little house so I made this cute little bird house out of some light chipboard. The grass is made with a marker. Supplies: Paper- Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla (SU!), Chatterbox designer paper, Stamps-Of a Feather (Memory Box), Limitless Labels (Papertrey Ink), Ink- Basic Black, Close to Cocoa (SU!), colorbox inks, Other-Old Olive, Close to Cocoa markers, light cardboard, sponge. Thanks for visiting. Donelda

Thanks a Hoot

I made this card for Card Positioning System #63. I loved the circle inside of the square idea so I had to give it a try!!


I made this cool owl by drawing the design on some light weight cardboard and cutting him out. Then I covered him with some chalk ink and attached his eyes, beak, and wing in chocolate chip and vanilla cardstock. I sponged around him with some close to cocoa ink for some depth.


The rest of the card is pretty straight forward. A gable fold card. The owl is added to a circle that has the branch stamped on it using chocolate chip ink. I wanted the owl to PoP off the branch so I added a smaller layer of the cardboard under him. Added the sentiment and sponged around the circle for more depth.



The square of designer paper is matted with chocolate chip cardstock and then attached to the card by only adhearing the left half of the square to the left flap. I left the base of the card clean to keep from detracting from my focal image.



This card will be for a co-worker who will be moving away. She has been so great to work with and has taught me so much!! The fold of this card allows for lots of room to write, which I will need to thank her for all she has done for me!!



Supplies: Cardstock-Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!), designer paper (K&Co.), Light brown base (unknown); Ink-Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa (Stampin' Up!), Amber Clay (ColorBox Chalk); Stamps-Out on a Limb, Mixed Messages (Papertrey Ink); Other- light weight cardboard, 1/4" circle punch (SU!), sponge dauber(SU!).


Thanks for stopping in!

Donelda

Bird Gift Set

I made this card set a while ago. If you saw the butterfly set I made for my son's teacher, this was a set that I made first and before that butterfly set!


Stamped a few individual stamps from Papertrey Ink sets in a very organized way (not random like usual). Then I stamped the branch from Take A Bough also from Papertrey Ink.


Then I drew this awesome bird and a wing for him and cut it out of lightweight cardboard. I traced it onto four different colors of cardstock. I cut out the birds and wings and adheared them to sit on each branch. I popped up the wing slightly by attaching a few layers of cardstock under them. Finished the card set off by adding four differnt sentiments. I think this will make a great gift set for someone.


Supplies: Paper-Orchid Opulance, Summer Sun, Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White (all SU!); Stamps-Text Boxed, Borders &Corners{can't remember which one}, Take a Bough, Faux Ribbon (all Papertrey Ink); Acccessories - none other than scissors and adhesives :-).

I should add that I was awarded with this from my Papertrey Ink pal, Erica. Isn't she just the sweetest!! It is an Arte y Pico award which means Art and More. Thanks Erica, I am honoured.

Thanks for visiting. Donelda

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #44

Beate always has a great layout for her weekend sketch challenges. It is always fun to play!

This challenge was a great blocked layout. I started out making this butterfly embellishment by cutting it out of light cardstock and then stamping the retired French Script background from Stampin' Up in Chocolate Chip. I sponged the edges to give it a soft feel. Then I made a mini version without the script.

The paper is the yummy Two Scoops paper by Basic Grey. The swirl and very berry sundae sheets were used but this whole pack is absolutely yummy and aptly named!!

By this time, I had decided that the card would be for my parents. They have had a really hard last few years so I thought they could use a little surprise in the mail. I wanted to use a sentiment that said how much I loved them but it had to match the elegance of the script and swirls. I started out with a sentiment from Faux Ribbon by Papertrey Ink but it wasn't the right font. So, I used part of it (Love You) and then added the work Always from Happy Harmony, a Sale-a-bration set from Stampin' Up. Using my new Stamp-a-ma-jig made it a possibility!! It has taken me forever to actually buy one but now I couldn't stamp without it.

Finished off the card with some bling - a small swarovski crystal bead - those things really shine in real life! The card is filled with pictures from our Mexico trip with lots of their grandson. That will definatly make them happy!

Thanks for visiting. Donelda

Butterfly Gift Set

I made this gift set for my son's teacher. She is going for brain surgery. I know that sounds scary but she really needs it and she sees it as a good thing!!

I figured that she would need some thank you cards because I know that she is going to receive lots of flowers and gifts while she recovers!

So I pulled together this set! 8 Thank You cards that are all the same with the exception of the color. The background paper is made using one of the flowers from the Text Boxed set (from Papertrey Ink). The little image is from the Borders & Corners {Oval} set. I drew the butterfly onto light cardstock and then traced it onto all the different colored cardstock and cut them out.

Well, I hope they are helpful to her! I know we will all miss her and wish her well and a speedy recovery!

Thanks for visiting.

Donelda

Challenge to make a TEEN BOY's VALENTINE!!

A co-worker asked if I could make some valentines for her to give to her teen sons!! Yikes!! But of coures, it was a challenge so I definantly said "sure, I'll give it a try!!". So, tonight I made a few. he only needs 2 but I wanted to make a few so she could choose, that is, if she likes any of them. I kept them all pretty clean and simple!! What do you think??? Supplies: Paper-Kraft, Basic Black, Chocolate Chip (all SU), designer papers- black encorce (the Paper Company), Pirate Bandana (Sandy Lion), Creative Imaginations; Ink-Basic Black, Versamark; Stamps-Everyday Flexible Phrases (SU); Accessories-corregated cardboard(unknown), wire (Michaels), rub-ons (Dee's Designs), Braiding Cord (Bead Party), rhinstones (unknown).

Thanks for visiting!!

Donelda

Home-made Velvet Flower

I was playing around with the Borders & Corners {circles} set from Papertrey! It is just soooo versatile!! I also had the left over velvet sitting on my craft desk from a previous project posted HERE. Looking at it, I thought that it would be perfect to make one of my home-made flowers (who needs a flower punch??!!). You can see my tutorial on this technique HERE. I also have been trying to use up "stuff" in my stash, and I saw these copper vellum tags and remembered I'd bought some copper brads -- they could go together!! Voila, here is the end result. It always amazes me when I reflect back on the "journey" of a card. Sometimes, the ingredients are instantly decided upon and other times, they slower come together after much trial and error. I hope you like the end result. If you decide to try one of these home-made flowers, please comment and leave a link so we can all see it!! Thanks for visiting.

Home-made Flower Tutorial

Okay, so I've seen many others do a "tutorial" on their blog. I've been making these awesome home-made flower for a while and they are so easy and versatile that I will likely never buy a flower punch. So, I decided to share the technique with you by making my first tutorial. Here is how you do it: First, you punch a circle out of some beautiful designer paper. I've used my 1 1/4" punch here but you could use any size, or use your coluzzle, or even cut your circle "free hand". As long as it is close to a circle, it doesn't have to be "perfect"! I am using some red desinger paper scraps that I've had around for a long time! I'm always looking for ways to use up those scraps. Next, take a pair of scissors and snip 5 cuts in toward the center of the circle making sure you space the snips evenly around the circle and don't cut all the way through, leave a flower "center". These will make the 5 "petals" so it is important to make 5 snips. If you end up with 4 snips, no big deal, your flower will just have 4 "petals" but we know that nature tends to follow the "odd" rule so most flowers have odd number of petals and odd numbers tend to be more attractive to the eye. So, finish your 4 petaled flower for practice and try a 5 petal flower next time. These are easy, you'll want to make tons of them !! Okay, the next step is where practice will help. Take your scissors and trim off the "corners" from each "petal" going in one direction - so, for example, here I've trimmed off all the left hand corners of my petals. Next step, you probably could guess, trim off the other "corner" from each petal making it more rounded looking. This is why it doesn't matter whether your original circle is perfect or not because in this trimming step, you can straighten up any crooked parts or ... as I sometimes like to do, make the straight parts look more crooked! It certainly gives a more whimsical flower. Anyway, for the card I was making, I wanted more straight flowers, but have fun with it! Once you get all of the trimming done, you can tidy up any specific petals that don't look quite right. And voila, home-made flowers that you can use in a number of ways. Some of the things you might think about doing is layering them on a card, adding stickles in the middles, adding buttons in the middle, clustering them on a card or scrapbook page, using them as a "topper" to a homemade box or bag, using them on a tag, layering different sizes, anything! You are really just limited by your imagination. I have used them in the past on this card (they are the brown flowers behind the white primas), on this card, and also on this card that I made for a CPS challenge. Here is a card I made for the October 19th Mini VSN challenge Abundant Supplies hosted by BeadFreak22 (or Katherine). She asked us to create a card using at least: 2 stamped images, 4 layers, 6 colors, and 8 embellishments. Well, I'm good on the images (there are actually 3), the layers (I have 4 on there), the colors (there are exactly 6), but I am not so sure about the embellishments. In the chat thread, Katherine indicated that you don't have to use 8 different items as embellishments just 8, and indicated that you could use 4 mini brads and be half-way there. So, I am hoping that the 22 beads that are in the middle of the flowers can be considered as at least 8 embellishments!! Regardless, making this card was a ton of fun!! Supplies: Cardstock all SU (Whisper White, Close to Cocoa, So Saffron), Designer paper is Anna Griffin, Stamps (Warmest Regards, Linen, Anna Griffin swirl), Ink is Close to Cocoa (SU), beads (Countess), Crystal Effects (SU). So, now it is your turn!! Try making some of those wiggity, wiggity wack flowers (that means cool by the way.... my son's favorite term these days!) and give me a link so I can check them out!! Have fun! Thanks for stopping by to visit. See you next week.