Casual Friday #41 - Cheesy Love

I wanted to play along with the CASual Friday challenge#41 - Just for the PUN of it!  Haha!! 

Here is my card ....

The sentiment is computer generated.  The cheese is a Studio g that I found at Michaels.  So much fun.

Donelda

CAS-ual Fridays #28 & Barb's Challenge - Damask Tag

This week's CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #28 is to create a tag or a card with a tag on it.  I combined it with a challenge set by a blogging buddy Barb who posted this beautiful table setting as inspiration.

Together I arrived at this tag.  From the inspiration picture I focused on the black demask table runner, and the color combo of black, white, and apple green.

I really love that burst punch (Martha Stewart).  And see that yummy ruffly ribbon ... it is from a past Secret Sister (thanks Linda!) and I've been trying to find a good use for it for a while now.  This elegant birthday tag was the perfect home for a bit of it!

Off to see what others created....

Donelda

One Layer Wednesday (OLW) #71 - Christmas Tags

Jennifer has issued the latest One Layer Wednesday challenge #71 - Tags  I started out with good One Layer intentions ... but it all went seriously wrong .. and I added a layer on them all!! 

These tags were actually a case from the Nov./Dec. Paper Crafts magazine ... if you turn to page ?? ... see those 3 halloween ... they are beautiful and I knew they would make great christmas tags too.  And I'd better clarify, these tags started out white .. they were embossed with clear embossing powder and then distress inks applied. Love that technique!!

Hope you are having a great Sunday.

Donelda

One Layer Wednesday (OLW) #68 - Triangles

Thanks to Susan R. for making 'triangles' the challenge for her One Layer Wednesday #68 challenge this week.  I've had this idea in my head for weeks and weeks ... and this gave me a chance to actually make it happen!!  LOL!! 

Hehe, isn't it funny!  The trees and trunks are actually shapes from the Fun With Shapes set (very old and very retired from Stampin' Up!).  I added some distressing, a few stars (Out on a Limb Additions, Papertrey Ink) and a holiday sentiment (also from PTI).  I left room on the left to address the tag to a recipient.  And check out that lace on the end .. just found it at a Dollar Store in a neighbouring town!  Love it!!!

Okay, what else can I do with triangles... going to have to give this one another go.

Oh, and here is another tag I made while I was "at it".  Sheesh, should have turned this into a Take 3 challenge... LOL!!

Thanks for dropping by.
Donelda

Love Tag

I bet I made this tag more than 2 years ago!  It has sat, unused, in my bin of scrap items.  It has been patient!!  And finally, it belongs to a card which will likely get used this Valentines day.  (Note that I have edited the photo again, the original I had here was too yellow and the true colors were hard to see, this is much better.  Thank you for being patient with my lighting issues!)

The tag was made by stamping the branches and leaves (branch from Take a Bough and leaves from Beautiful Blooms - both Papertrey Ink) and then embossing them with clear embossing powder.  Then, the tag was sponged with Broken China ink (Ranger).  The hearts were cut from red cardstock and a small highlight of white added with my gel pen (Signo).  The Love sentiment is from Mixed Messages (Papertrey Ink) and popped up with dimensionals. 

The tag was added to the card by adhering the 3 strips of color (green, brown, and red) directly onto the card.  Then the tag was added with dimensions.  A bit of doodling around the edge of the card finishes it off.  


Enjoy.
Donelda

Christmas Gift Card Holder #3

Here is my 3rd gift card holder.  I like this one the best.  The colors are a bit dark in this photo, it was all a bit softer in real life. 

You might recognize this ... it is a total CASE of Nichole Heady's card HERE (scroll down, it's the 4th project down).  I loved it so much.  However, I had to be creative in making the tag as I didn't have the same stamps that she used.  Sadly the colors on my card are not true to life ... it looks less orangy and more subtle in real life ... sorry about that ... it is really lighting issues still when I photographed it. 

Well, that's it for Chrismas for me!  You'll have to go elsewhere for any Christmas inspiration!  Now I'm off to create some moer birthday cards :-)

Donelda

Christmas Card Reveal Countdown - Day 20

These are the cards I sent to my fellow smARTworks Design Team members and Susan Trask, the owner.

If you follow the smART Word challenges, you will know that the inspiration Word for the month of December is: CHRISTMAS (what else would it be). For me, the word Christmas inspired me to create those tags you see here. Then, I used those tages to create Christmas cards for my fellow design team members!!

I have really enjoyed my work with Susan and the team with smARTworks and I look forward to a wonderful 2010 and all the creativity it promises!!

Thanks for dropping in today. I hope you return to see what I have in store for the very last day of my 21 day countdown. Tomorrow there is not 1 but 3 cards to share with you ... and they are some of my favorites. So make sure you drop back in tomorrow!!!

Donelda

smART Word Challenge Dec. - Christmas

Note: this is my second post for the day - see my other post for Day 1 of my Christmas Card Reveal Countdown. So, this month over at the smART Word Challenge Blog it was Giovanna's turn to pick the "word". She picked CHRISTMAS of course!! That left things pretty open-ended!!

I decided to create some tags for my inspiration. I got this great postage frame stamp from smARTworks but decided that, while it would be cute to put around my postage stamps, it would also make a great image for a Christmas tag.

You see how you can put the 'to: and from:' in the middle!! And that is exactly what I plan to do.

Now, off to see what everyone else has created for the word CHRISTMAS over at the smART Word blog. Remember, you can play too. Just use the word CHRISTMAS as your inspiration (how easy is that!!) and then go to the site and link a post of your card or other creation on Mr. Linky. There are some pretty good prizes up for grabs!! and if you use smARTworks stamps on your project, you also get smART Bucks which you can cash in for some awesome rubber that you can't even buy!! How cool is that!!

See you over at the Word Blog! Oh yeah, and don't forget to check out my Christmas Card Reveal post - just scroll down to see it!!

Donelda

Supplies: Stamps - CMS-26 CC Frame; Ink - Jet Black (Ranger); Paper - Sahara Sand (SU!), Walnut Stain (Ranger); Other - pencil crayons (Prismacolor), 1/4" circle punch, hemp, sponge applicator.

smARTworks- Tag Key

Well, this tag was totally inspired by guess who.....the one and only t!m holtz (he types his name that way on his blog and I think it is too cool...makes me wish I had an I in my name!!). I started out by making my own tag using Very Vanilla cardstock. Then, I sponged on some various Distress Inks. Then, my favorite part, I let some waterdrops drip onto the tag to make an awesome background. Once that was dry, it was stamping time. Using Walnut Stain Distress Ink, I stamped on these great keys and keyhole (which I just realized is upside down...drat, didn't even think of that or notice it earlier!!) as well as that great sentiment. They are a set from smARTworks seen HERE. I wanted to tie in the 'heart' so I created this

heart embellishment. I drew and cut out a heart shape from more vanilla cardstock. Then, sponged the same blue color onto it. Next, I took the hinge image from the same stamp set and stamped the swirly portion onto the heart. Finally, I outlined the heart using my gold pen. I finihsed off the tag by sponging more walnut stain around the edges, adding some raffia and attached the heart with dimensionals for pop! Don't forget about the smARTworks tea party on Wednesday!! If you'd like to join us for tea you are welcome!! Just follow the sketch layout shown on THIS post and add some metal too! You can use any stamps, just make sure you come and have some fun!! Post a comment to any of the Design Team's blogs so we can go and see it!! Supplies: Stamps - Lock and Key (smARTworks); Paper - Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!); Ink - Walnut Stain, Tea Stain, Broken China, Faded Jeans (Distress Ink from Ranger), Other - Jute (from a friend), sponge, gold marker (Pilot), 1/4" hole punch. See you on Wednesday! Donelda

smARTworks - Butterfly Tag

I made this tag using the set called BLISS from smARTworks. It is an amazingly large butterfly that is magnificant. And there are so many things you can do with it!! You can see various projects made by all the Design Team members HERE for the cookie challenge. That is where Susan sends us all the same stamp set to see what we all come up with. This was one other project I did with it. (I forgot to take a picture of the actually card I submitted before I mailed it to Susan...oops!)

I was clearly inspired by t!m Holtz!! I used a tag but I also used his distress inks and added some drops of water to create that increadible background! I stamped the butterfly onto some Creative Imaginations paper that had various tones of yellow and orange. Believe it or not, there was only one butterfly stamped to create this tag. I simply adheared part of the image onto the tag, cut it, then adheared the rest of the image on the other end of the tag and trimmed any extra off. The sentiment was stamped and a little doodling was added with a black marker. Finally, I sponged around the edge of the tag and added some hemp.

Supplies: Stamps-Bliss (smARTworks); Paper-Whisper White (Stampin' Up!), designer paper (Creative Imaginations); Ink-Basic Black (Stampin' Up!), China Doll, Peeled Paint, Walnut Stain (Ranger); Other-orange hemp, water misting bottle, black marker.

Thanks for dropping in for a visit.

Donelda

Loonie Stamper Challenge #27

So Charlene set the Loonie Stamper Challenge #27 and I was instantly interested! She picked Black, Cream, and Book Print. Are you kidding...these look awesome together so I knew I had to give it a whirl!! Interestingly, I've been playing around with some "book print" designer papers lately, punching out various shapes. But I didn't use any of them on my card....I started from scratch!

I started out by making the tag. I was just going to photograph it and upload but I decided that it was a bit of a lame "entry" so I decided to put it on a card.

To make the tag, I started out with a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock that had been punched with the Stampin' Up! tag punch. Then, I used a punched circle scrap to draw the curved top I wanted on the tag punch. Then I cut it out and rounded the bottom corners. Next, I used this vanilla tag shape I had created as a template on the "book print" patterned paper. I had to cut it down so that some of the vanilla tag matted this new pattern paper tag. I added faux stitching around the edges. I didn't like how the words were so bright (figured that anything I stamped onto it would get lost) so I swiped a bit of very vanilla craft ink over top of the patterned paper and let it dry. Next, I took that flower stamp and stamped on some black as well as the word "wishes". I attached the two tags and then mounted this all onto a piece of black cardstock and cut around the tag leaving a bit of black matting. Finally, I added a black eyelet and some hemp. I really like the end results of this and might just spend the day making a few more for little gift bags.

The card itself is pretty staight forward. re-stamped "birthday" over and over for a strip of interst. Added the 2 thin lines of vanilla cardstock just about the scallops.

Now you have to go see what all the Loonie ladies created with this challenge:

Char, Jewels, Dee, Regan, Maria, Wendy

Thanks for visiting. Are you as sad as I am that you didn't win anything at the PTI release party!! I'm feeling pretty degected...but I guess now I have to go ahead and put in a huge order :D

Have a great long weekend!!

Donelda

Loonie Stamper Challenge #10 and #11 - Owl Tags

I guess I've been extra busy these last few weeks. I know this because I try to do the Loonie Stamper Challenges withthe girls over at Papertrey Ink, but I didn't get last week's challenge finished and looked and saw that this week's colors were posted already! Sheesh!!

So, in order to catch up, I decided to try doing the two challenges at the same time. I needed a few gift tags and I've been really "into" circles lately so I decided to make a few circle tags.

Here are the two color challenges:

LSC#10 and LSC#11

I also broke out my wonderful Wise Owl stamp set from Papertrey Ink. I love him so much - he is just so darn cute!! Who wouldn't love him. For both tags, I stamped all the owl pieces using Chocolate Chip ink. Then, watercolored them in using a paint brush and the ink pad. I made sure to color in the bellies in the approrpiate color for the challenges (the pink and green). Then, I cut them out and adheared them to a circle of matching color. I curved the sentiment onto the block and stamped it onto the colored circle with more Chocolate Chip ink. I attached all of this to a piece of Dark Chocolate cardstock and cut around it carefully using some scallop scissors. Finally, I adheared all of this onto a white or cream circle card.

While I should have cut the circles for the ribbon to go before adhearing the whole thing together, I didn't. You don't want to know how hard it was to get them in there!! But I did it!! I adheared the appropriate color of ribbon depending on the color challenge. Voila, my two gift tags are finished.

I see that LSC10 was supposed to have polka dots and flowers....oops!!

Go check out the Loonie Stamper girls' work:

LSC 10 and 11

Dee Dee

Jewels Jewels

Regan Regan

Char Char

Maria Maria

Wendy Wendy

Supplies: Stamps-Wise Owl (Papertrey Ink), Ink-Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!), Sweet Blush, Spring Moss, Summer Sunrise (Papertrey Ink), Paper - Vintage Cream, White, Spring Moss, Sweet Blush, Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink); Other - Dark Chocolate and Pure Poppy twill (Papertrey Ink), Coluzzle, 1/4" hole punch, scallop scissors (Provo Craft).

Thanks for dropping in for a visit.

Donelda

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend

Last year I made some little treats to put at our place settings for our Thanksgiving supper! I had gotten the idea from Nichole Heady's blog and love the idea because they were super simple to make and super cheap too! You can see the treats I made LAST year -- and it was only my second post to my blog !! This year, I decided to "take it up a notch". I used the same ida of gathering a few sweets into a decorated coffee filter, but just added a bit more detail!! I guess it really shows just how much my style has changed and improved over one year!! This year, I took my white coffee filters and started out by stamping the largest leaf from Lisa Johnson's Remember stamp set (released by Papertrey Ink). I used various fall colors for this and just randomly stamped all over the filter. Then I took one of the medium swirls from this same set and filled in between the leaves using Wild Wasabi ink. The coffee filter really accepts the ink well and is such an inexpensive way to package little treats. It would be a perfect way to package treats for your child's class!! Next, I wanted to add some oomph to the tag (especially compared to my tag from last year's treats). I started out by stamping the sentiment Thoughtful from the First Fruits set (from Papertrey Ink). Then I added "for" and "family" in Really Rust. I made this into a little banner tag by cutting the long thin rectangle and then cutting a triangle out of the far end. I punched a hole into the other end, threaded it with some hemp and wrapped it around the coffee filter with the candy treats inside. Finally, I added an imatation leaf behind the tag. It really adds that color punch! Well, I'm sure the boys will like their little treat packages. I know my son is always excited to see a little surprise at the table!! Supplies: Stamps: Remember, First Fruits (Papertrey Ink); Ink - Really Rust, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun, Wild Wasabi, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!); Paper - Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Other- coffee filters (Dollarama), hemp (Walmart), leaves (?? I think I might have bought these at Michaels or the dollar store..can't remember), 1/8" hole punch (Provo Craft). I hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving weekend (at least all you Canadians out there!). Thanks for dropping in to visit. Donelda

Loonie Stamper Challenge #7

Deanna picked the colors for the 7th Loonie Stampers Challenge. And great colors for halloween!! I decided to make a tag that I will add to my son's Halloween goodie bag. I try to make him an extra special bag of sweet treats and home-made goodies. I cut the tag out of Summer Sunrise cardstock. Since I don't have any Papertrey Ink halloween stamps, I used this witch. My wonderful husband picked her up for me at Micheals (in the $1.50 bin) a few weeks ago. Wasn't that nice of him!! She lookes great stamped in black on that bright yellow-orange!! Then, I added some stars and dots around her and the moon. I cut some thin strips of Plum Pudding and Black cardstock to add along the bottom. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up but it is all together on the stamp. I was able to seperate it using my handy dandy Stamp-a-ma-jig. What did I do before I bought it??? Drop in and see all the other Loonie stampers: Jewels, Regan, Charlene, and two new ladies Maria and Wendy!! You might notice the furry background in this picture and be wondering...what the????? WELL, you see, my goofy cat has decided that my photo box makes a nice place to sleep!! Sheesh!! I

had to take a pic to show you!! What a cat!!! Supplies: Paper - Summer Sunrise, Plum Pudding (Papertrey Ink), Basic Black (Stampin' Up); Stamps - witch (Michael's dollar fifty bin), Text Boxed (Papertrey Ink), Fancy Flexible Phrases (Stampin' Up!); Ink - Basic Black (Stampin' Up!); Other - black marker (Zig), 1/4" hole punch (Stampin' Up!), Stamp-a-ma-jig. Thanks for dropping by. Anyone want a cat???!!!! Donelda

Stamps from Dina

One of my favorite card maker and blogger is Dina! She is amazing. So you can imagine my surprise when I went the the mailbox a few months ago and found an envelope sitting there from her!! When I opened it up, it was one of her stamps called Looking Collage from SmARTworks! WOW!! I was so excited.

I wanted to see how many different "looks" I could get from this stamp, so here is what I ended up with:

For this first one, I wanted to color with my Prismacolor pencil crayons onto the lighter of the two grey colors available from Stampin' Up. I really like the orange with the gray and white! I was so excited when I looked at the fancy swirly stuff in the top right hand part of the image because it matches quite closely to the Finest Flourishes, a set put out by Stampin' Up. So I used that as a background stamp.

The second card is more flashy with all the color! I stamped the image onto white glossy cardstock and used sponges to add the bright colors. Then I found a bunch of flowers in my stash that matched the bright colors (thanks Robin!!). I ended it off with a border of bling - see that box of turquoise rhinstones to finish it off nicely!! Oh yeah, and a little bit of doodling around the edges (I do love to doodle)!!

The sentiment "What we see depends mainly on what we look for" is so cool. It reminds me of this scrapbook page, CLOSED and OPEN, I made quite a while ago for a VSN on Splitcoaststampers. I put it on the inside of this card - done on the glossy with the same colors.

Finally, my son is a huge Tim Holtz fan and being the creative kid he is and always thinking outside of the box. So, he challenged me to make a Tim Holtz tag but do it opposite of Tim's typical style (now what 9 year old thinks that way LOL). So instead of dark earthy colors I was to use brighter colors and instead of dark stamping I was to use white or light.....sheesh!! Here is what I ended up with. See the little frame...it is actually a link from a bracelet where you can insert photos (got that from Michaels). Inside there is a pic of the three of us!! This tag will be going into the altered book I am working on ... well, trying to work on.....

Dina, I can't thank you enough. This is just the tip of the iceberg of things that could be done with your fantastic stamp!!! I hope you enjoy this little sampling!!

Thanks for visiting everyone!!

Donelda

Love Tag

I am starting on a new adventure...I've decided to see how much fun Altered Books are to make. I have decided to go with a tag theme since making tags are so much fun.

So I had made this tag a little while ago but then today when I checked Caardvarks, the challenge is to make a tag that is inspired by a month of the year. Well, this tag is totally a July tag -- those hearts are just like ripening fruit on a tree, don't ya think??!!

I started out by stamping the branches and leaves, then I used clear embossing powder on them. This allowed me to brayer over them with Broken China Distress Ink by Ranger. Then I cut out and added the hearts. I stamped and embossed the Love, cut it out, sponged the edges with more Broken China, then attached it with dimensionals to add a bit of depth. I also sponged around the whole tag with some ink too.

Stay tuned as I will occasionally post some insights to my Altered Book adventure.

Supplies: Paper-Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa (Stampin' Up!) red (Bazzil), Ink-Chocolate Chip, Wild Wasabi, Ruby Red (Stampin' Up), Broken China Distress Ink (Ranger); Stamps-Take a Bough, Mixed Messages, Beautiful Blooms (all Papertrey Ink); Other - Ribbon (Making Memories), 1/4" hole punch (SU!), Dimensionals (Making Memories).

YIKES!!!! As I am typing up this post I have realized that I've lost that leaf stamp!! It is not in the CD case with the set!! Where in the blazes is it....I may never find it in this mess of a craft room. I'm off to make a sign telling my husband to NOT VACCUUM in here until I find it! Drat, it's one of my favorite sets!!!! I have to find it!!

Thanks for visiting.

Donelda

Tagged Sunflowers

It took me over a week to get this card finished, photographed, and uploaded, but here it finally is!! I made it for the Ways to Use It Challenge 158 by Julia over at SCS.

The challenge was to make a card incorporating a tag or tags. Well, I love this tag shape!! I have one that I think I got off a garage sale item. So I took it and traced it out 3 times on Kraft cardstock and cut them out. Then I stamped this cute sunflower from the Text Boxed set from Papertrey Ink in Barely Banana craft ink (SU!). Once it dried, it wasn't showing up too much so I added some edges in More Mustard (classic). The centers are Chocolate Chip ink and the leaves are in Garden Green (both from Beautiful Blossoms, PTI). The edges of the tags are sponged with some close to cocoa ink for dimension and I added some of my new Linen thread that I just got from SU!. I LOVE it!! If you like hemp, then you'll love this linen thread! It is so much easier to tie and lays nicer on the card!!

I'm sorry but I don't have the names for the brown desinger paper nor the striped desinger paper.

Thanks for visiting and have a sunflowery weekend!!

Donelda

Flourishes!

Sharon (No Time to Stamp?) challenged us to make a simply stamped card that had flourishes on it!!

I love these flourishes I have from Gel-a-tins called Build Your Own Flourish.

See that designer paper ... I made it using the Faux Ribbon and the small stamps from one of the Borders & Corners sets that both come from Papertrey Ink. I really like the look, kinda like home-made vintage tags. You can see more like it HERE and HERE.

Thanks for visiting.

Donelda

Technique Tag

If you haven't been over to Tim Holtz' blog, then you should. He started a blog just before Christmas and demonstrated some awesome techniques every day up to Christmas. And he gave out some increadible prizes too!! I didn't win any but had fun trying and leaning all those techniques.

Since Christmas, he is going to suggest a technique each month. This tag card was one I made for the January technique where you emboss an image, sponge around it, then melt the embossing off with your iron and some brown wrapping paper. It was a lot of fun!!

I haven't done February's technique since it uses Grungeboard (a great new product of Tim's) but I've been waiting for my local stores to get the Elements Set of Grungeboard in -- all they have is letters. If only I could do the ordering for them :-)

Thanks for dropping in for a visit. I'd love to see your try at this fun technique!! Give it a try and leave me a post with a link!!

Donelda