The Spirit of Christmas Past ~~ A Jingle Belles Story

 Finally I managed to get a card done for the Jingle Belles Christmas Challenge, I just love their prompts every 2 weeks although sometimes I just don't "get 'er done".  Finally I had the opportunity to have a longer stay at the lake but with the longer time you need more "stuff" I only have so many duplicates, but I remembered my tonic cutter this week. I said to myself as I was packing don't forget the vanilla cardstock, and I did, so it was improvise time.

I used my PSX 94611 wood block stamp, there was no date on it but my other PSX stamp is dated 1999.  Stamped on white with memento tuxedo black and coloured with markers. Layered on red metallic posterboard and then on a top fold white base.

Finished the inside with a scrap of the metallic posterboard and as it never occurred to me to pack sentiments it is to be finished at home. 

Of course I'm adding this to:

Jingle Belles Christmas Challenge ~~ The Spirit of Christmas Past

Thanks for stopping by today and you still have until Wednesday at 6 p.m. EDT  to get a project done, (ps there is a prize)

Flowers, Flowers Everywhere

Flowers Flowers Everywhere is the new Challenge at Shopping Our Stash, it will be so nice seeing all the flowers in the gallery as right now I'm looking at piles of snow/ice with more to come. I had a plan as always and I usually try to have a plan "B" for those times that I have put plan "A" in that safe place, I was positive I knew where the Hero Arts Poppy stamp was, but it wasn't there so with no plan "B" I had to put my thinking cap on. I'm sure you have been where I was not able to get by the fact I WANTED to use the Poppy Stamp so I was having trouble thinking past it, finally I remembered a 3D folder I bought early last year and had never used it, in my defense I needed to google how to make a sandwich for it, so checked Mr. Google and you don't need any special plates so I'm now in love with the folder and want more.  Enough gabbing and let's get on with the challenge. 

As you see I'm back in my "pink" stage but that was only because when I saw that the folder was Sweet Peas I remembered I had an already coloured sweet pea image that was a stamped image from a friend. I used my original spellbinders ovals and the Happy Birthday die cut is layered three times. as well as the oval with the flower. 

Close up so you can see how beautiful the folder is.

Finished the inside with scraps of pink and a very ancient Hero Arts sentiment must be at least 20 years old. I used a Brilliance ink pad that must be a bit dry as it didn't stamp dark enough, there is no "re-do" with a wood mound stamp. 

I'm going to add this to:

Seize the Birthday ~~ Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you will dig out your Floral stamps and send us a bouquet.

Spring has Sprung and time for May Flowers....

 Challenge # 8 at A Tiny Craft (ATC) Challenge is Flowers, it doesn't need to be spring flowers as long as it is a flower it's acceptable. I think the problem will be picking the flowers you want to use, die cuts, artsy flowers, real looking flowers, even poinsettias (was my second choice)  I have a set of 4 "dotty flowers" from Sunshine Designs (now closed) but if you want to have them they are at The Frogs Whiskers   which is a Canadian company located in Ontario. They are the perfect size for ATCs.

One day I was playing around with photo paper, copic markers and a large zip lock bag and made a few backgrounds just for practice and the colours were perfect for how I coloured my "dotty" flowers. The red background has gold leaf on it, I used glue and some gold leaf from the dollar store and it worked well. The flowers were fussy cut (as I was cutting I really wondered why I wanted to stress myself with such fine work, it might be tedious and time consuming but looks great. I added some tiny script words and some of my "homemade" enamel drops. They were made with Perler beads and a toaster oven one Sunday at the cottage (outside)

Here are some individual pictures of the cards.

Card #1

Card #2

A better look at the gold leaf design.

Card #3

I have to admit this one is my favourite (don't tell the other 3)

Last but not least Card #4

Glad you lasted until the end of the picture show and hope you enjoyed seeing my Dotty (funky) Flowers. 

I'm adding this to:

ATCs with Heart ~~ #116 Everything Goes

Snippets Playground Challenge ~~ Challenge 428, everything used was from my file folder bin of scraps.

Thanks for stopping by today and head over to the Main Blog and see the gorgeous floral ATCs the rest of the team made to inspire you to join us. ATCs are the perfect craft to use up your stash of "snippits" AKA scraps. 

  

The Power of Pastels

 Hello and welcome to a new challenge at Shopping Our Stash ~~ The Power of Pastels, self explanatory use a pastel colour pallet but don't forget to tell us what you used from your stash!!!

I rarely make totally pastel cards unless it is a baby card and even them sometimes I get heavy handed with the markers. Talk about stash.....I was playing around with the floral edge die and had this one left over in my bin, the cardstock was a scrap the patterned paper could be newer or I could be from a pack I bought 5 years ago (I had both on the table) Now the oldest items on the card are the purple pearls which were left over from a DT spot on the Eyelet Outlet. Happy Birthday was cut from a piece of white cardstock that I blended with two shades of distress oxide ink. 

I layered the inked die cut on top of three die cuts from 100 pound cardstock from Michaels, the die cut is easy to glue together because it is nice and chunky. This shows how the sentiment is popped up.

After a 45 minute search for a shoebox full of Birthday sentiments  I finally located them, so many shoeboxes with stamps in them and other stuff too. making labels is going on the To-Do list. The sentiment is from Fran's collection at Stampendous.

Joining in the fun at:

Happy Little Stampers ~~ Anything Goes with Dies

Seize the Birthday ~~ Anything goes Birthday

Thanks for stopping by and please stop by the Main Blog and check out the beautiful pastel projects the rest of the design team have made. 

Spring is in the Air.

 Spring is in the Air at Shopping Our Stash, but it certainly is not in the air here in South Western Ontario we just had three days of snow-showers, not much accumulation but it was like the storm was circling the city, clear for a bit then white-outs. At least it gave me some crafting time and this is what I made for the  challenge. For the challenge we want to see something with Wings on your project, birds, butterflies, bees, dragonflies lots of choices. My choice was a Hummingbird. 

I used a House Mouse Designs wood mount stamp called Helping Hand and decided to use a favourite spring colour, purple. I did partial cutting so the hummingbird was partly outside the oval, The patterned paper I've had for a while it was  purchase from Dollarama mainly because of the purple designs and it's almost a cardstock weight. The layer and the oval were cut from........Stampin'up called Lavender lace now that is really digging into my stash. 

Not sure why my close-up pictures are fuzzy and out of 3 programs not one has a spot to fix it. The image was popped up with two heavy cardstock ovals and a dimensional is under the wings. 

Finished the inside with some scraps of paper and a Hero Arts vertical sentiment, one of the first ones I bought when I started stamping. 

I'm adding this to:

House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge ~~ Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by and head over to the MAIN BLOG and check out what winged creatures the rest of the design team have made. 

Coral Rose

 On Friday afternoon a group of retired ladies get together for bowling, most are friends that worked together at Woolco/Walmart, no prizes, no pressure the only thing we strive for is reaching a 100 count in pins for the game, we do have over-achievers that double that goal, a lot of laughs and a great afternoon with friends. The one of the staff has had surgery and I made this card for all of us to sign and have it delivered to her. I love my ancient Stippled Rose stamp from Stampin'up, it makes for a quick card in a hurry. 

I really had trouble picking a colour for the rose, I'm sure I went though the rainbow trying to decide as my favourite colour is purple but not everyone is a fan so teal/turquoise came to mind but when I sat down with my markers picking out colours  I spotted the coral and it was decided.  

All layers were cut with Elizabeth Craft Designs Stitched and scalloped rectangle dies. The Thinking of You is a sticker sentiment from Starform, in my stash for eons, the small sentiment is perfect as not to overshadow the focal point.

The sentiment I found on a verse page and thought it was perfect. 

Thanks for looking today, stay safe and stay well.

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”― Albert Einstein

 

I Made This For You Mom!!

 It will soon be May and Mother's day is May 9th this year in Canada and the U.S. so it's time to get busy and make a Mother's day card for your Mom, Mom-in-law, a close friend or your Daughter just because she's a great Mom. I have made cards for all of the above, everyone appreciates a handmade card.  Since this is Shopping Our Stash I dug deep in my stash, way back to 1998 and 2008. 

The basket is from Limited Edition stamps Long Island NY dated 2008, It is a large wood mount with the basket on one side and the handles on the end, I stamped it with versafine sepia ink, cut it out and created shadows with #31 copic marker. The pansy stamp is from Stampendous also a wood mount stamp dated 1998, it was stamped with memento tuxedo black and coloured with copics, then fussy cut to fit  the basket. 

Close up of the pansies, odd thing the one bud is not light purple it is the same colour as the other one, must be the way the light shone one it and of course both buds are free standing. 

The third wood mount stamp I used is also from Limited Edition and is double sided with a different sentiment on the other side, it reads A Basket Full of Friendship. The pansies are attached so they go over the edge of the basket. 

Since we are honouring Mothers with our challenge here is a picture of my Mom and I taken many, many years ago.

Thanks for visiting my blog today and head over to the Main Blog and check out the rest of the design team projects, then get your mojo working and make a card for the challenge. 

Shopping Our Stash ~~ All things Leafy.

 It's finally spring in SWO, April showers and new growth budding all over. Crocuses have bloomed, the wild violets in the lawn are flowering and at Shopping Our Stash the challenge for the next fortnight is Plant Life ~~ all thing Leafy. I found a really great leafy piece of patterned paper in my stash,  it was a bundle stamps, dies and a paper pack from the SAB 2009, I've pretty much gone through the leafy/floral sheets and have used the dies but never inked the stamp set, just looking at the stamps it's a shame I haven't inked them. I thought I could add to my birthday card stash with making a slim-line eclipse card. 

I often wonder why I bought the bundle as none of the colours in the papers are my go to colours, but I do like going out of my comfort zone occasionally and this was one of those times.  I used my 2 inch Alpha dies to cut HAPPY, I find these cards are easier to make than they look, With the patterned paper you don't need a lot of embellishments. Leaves and flowers from the same set and some enamel dots from Dollar Tree.

A side view of the happy, I did cut a birthday sentiment to put on the lower right. The flower and leaf is on the lower left  corner.

Finished the inside with a layer of patterned paper that was a failed die cutting but it's still use-able and I have the alphas to use on something else. I had cut three sets of flowers and leaves but of couse the fro
nt was too busy to add more than one so they are added to the inside, Love this sentiment package I have really fits the Slim-line cards.

I am going to add tis to:

Seize the Birthday ~~ Anything Goes

Happy Little Stampers ~~ April Anything Goes with Die

Cardz 4 Galz ~~ #144 Slimline card

Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to head over to the MAIN BLOG and check out the design teams leafy creations

Pink and Green is the Colour Challenge.

 I have just recently found the challenge at Color Hues, This is my 5th time entering the challenge. I like the colour combo challenges as long as there are not 6 colours to try to work with. The challenge has also helped me make cards for my stash as they can be any theme as long as you use the colours. 

I am not sure where the image is from, it is something I had printed from my digital images I needed a floral card to send to a friend that I just found out is in a nursing home and I wanted her to know I have been thinking of her. The Hello was cut three times and glued together for dimension.

As I was taking the picture of the inside my camera went a little wonky and the picture ended up fuzzy. Oh well IRL it is clear. Although I haven't used tis stamp in years, it is probably close to 20 years perhaps I needed to do something with it before I stamped. 

I am entering this in:

Color Hues the Color Challenge ~~ #15 Pink & Green

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week. 

Thinking of You.............

 Peach and Green are not my go to colours but when I saw the challenge at Color Hues I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and give it a whirl. I knew I had a gorgeous flower already printed, I thought the digi was from Beccy's Place but couldn't find it in her store. The parts of the card have been done for quite a few days but life seems to get in the way of crafting some weeks. Since tomorrow is the  end of the challenge I needed to get 'er finishe
d today.

It's a deeper shade of peach and the sentiment is die cut three times and layered to elevate it. The layers were die cut with Elizabeth Craft Designs stitched and scalloped rectangles.

I have made this for a friend that is dealing with a terrible disease, I wanted her to know I'm think of her every day. 

I am entering this in:

Color Hues ~~ #12 Peach and Green

Thanks for visiting today and stay safe stay healthy.

Pile It On!!!

Last challenge it was Keep it Simple Sister now for this fortnight it's Pile it On at Shopping Our Stash, Ah much better for me I love layers, embossing and bling.

Count them, there are 5 layers plus a base, I didn't want to take away from the poppies so I left the background white but embossed it with Swiss Dots. I have no idea who made this stamp it is a clear mount stamp and all I have is the stamp between two pieces of acetate. There are two stamps, this one and a narrower one. I haven't inked it in many years in fact I can only find one card I have made with this set. If you know the company that makes it please leave the name in the comments, I have searched and came up with 0.  I did some fussy cutting on the top of the large bloom so it fit the oval I wanted to use, layered it on the fancy oval from Spellbinders. The Happy Birthday is from Class A Peel Stickers (Stampendous) and the dots are Stardream red/gold glitter stickers (there are 4 sizes of dots in the package) 

Close up, you can see the glitter dots better. 

The inside was finished with a Birthday sentiment from Impression Obsession. 

Thanks Georgina for letting  me know that the poppies are from Hero Arts. 

I am entering this in:

Seize the Birthday ~~ Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by today and head over to the Main Blog and check out the "lots of layers" card made by the design team.

KISS ~~ Keep it Simple Sister....

Time for a new challenge at Shopping Our Stash and Donna thought it would be a good idea to "Keep it Simple Sister" in other words Clean and Simple. Now this isn't usually my forte' but I did some research and found a simple card to make, although sometime simple isn't fast and easy.

I made the background with distress oxide inks did some die cutting of the flowers, the oval was cut with Nellie Snellen oval set, the thinking of you is from Impression Obsession. The flowers are the newest dies being around 2 years old,  When you do CAS there isn't much using of stash. If I was doing this card there would be sparkles, rhinestones, butterflies and more but I pulled the reins pretty hard.  

Love these flowers and have now just started using them, there are 6 in the set. and of course the oxide background, my favourite thing to do, fun and messy.

A sentiment from a fairly new set, but first time inking it, I love the sentiment, it is very comforting. 

Thanks for stopping by today and head over to the main blog there are simply beautiful inspiration over there.

Shopping Our Stash is Celebrating "Mothers"

Chris is our "hostess" for Challenge #419 at Shopping Our Stash and the theme she picked is Happy Mother's Day, you can get an early start on your Mother's Day card or project,  Mother's Day in Canada and the U.S. is May 10th so lots of time to get some done.

You know how you look things up on Pinterest and next thing you know you have a barrage of Pins they found just for you. Well had one in my mail and I always check and there was a card made with the Botanical Builder dies, so of course went and had a look and thought I can make that since I have the dies.  I want you to note the "white" space in the upper corner, it took all my restraint to leave it alone, and I'm very pleased. The patterned paper is from a pack I bought last year at Dollarama.  It's been a long time since I have been doing any fun shopping.

Close up of the flowers, the pearls are from Stampin'up and the sentiment from a SU set called Teeny Tiny Wishes, after stamping and trimming I added it to a banner from a set from We R Memory keepers I bought at Winners at least 5 years ago. 

Finished inside using a couple of scraps of paper, a die cut flower and a sentiment from Stampworks.

If you haven't checked out the rest of the Design team project head over to the MAIN BLOG and check them out.

I'm entering this in:

Use Your Stuff #396 Mood Board. I picked out the blue, pink and flowers.

Thanks for stopping by and I'm looking forward to seeing your Mother's Day projects.