Let it Snow

The house is all decorated, the fireplace is going, and Christmas music is playing. It feels good to be home :) ...and making Christmas cards hehehe :) Who wouldn't be inspired?! This card is inspired by the song Let It Snow. No stamping this time. I decided to go out of my comfort zone and try to use something else as my center image.

I used my Cricut Expression and the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge to make the snowman. The card base is from Studio G. I used papers from the Recollections Pet Pad, and K.&Co. Seasonal Paper Pad. I also inked the edges using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and it wouldn't be complete without winter sparkle so I used some Studio G glitter glue on the outline of the snowman.

The sentiment is actually a rub-on from my stash. I found it so fitting with the "snow" theme. I finished the card off with a white satin ribbon. For the inside of the card, I used another rub-on and just the same patterned paper I used in front.

I'm joining the following challenges:
Paper Pretties Wednesday Challenge
The Paper Variety FALALALALA challenge
Whimsical Designs Wednesdays challenge
Deep Ocean Challenge Let it Snow

Glitter! Sparkle! Shine!

November was non-existent for me this year. I feel like I've been go-go-go since halloween and now it's 17 more sleeps before Christmas! This card is one I made for my grandma who lives in the U.S. I hope she likes it. I also was able to get a bunch of new stamps from my Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping and I am so glad I now have the time to use them.

I now have 3 Magnolia stamps. I love all of them. This one is the Tilda with Teddy Bear. I coloured her using Distress Inks. It's my first time trying this technique, and I still need a lot of practice. I love the soft watercolour effect though.

The card base is from 3 Birds Design overstuffed cardmaking kit. I stamped the image onto a precut oval 90lb Canson watercolour paper using Staz-on black ink. I used my cricut expression and the elegant edges cartridge to cut the oval and the green frame, and I had to put green glitter glue on it for some holiday sparkle.

I used the following distress inks to colour the image:
Skin: Tattered Rose, Antique Linen
Dress: Forest Moss
Hair: Antique Linen, Vintage Photo
Stockings: Victorian Velvet, Milled Lavender
Teddy: Antique Linen, Vintage Photo

For the inside of the card, I used a black Recollections cardstock and paper from the K.&Co. Best of Brenda Walton pad. I also embossed the sentiment. I hope my grandma likes it!  

I'm Back!

It feels like forever since my last blog post. I am so glad to be back. The past 2 weeks have been super busy with family events since we have some family visiting, and although it was fun and all, I've been missing my craftroom. Anyway, my card is just an any day card. I was inspired by reds and blues. I know, not Christmas-y at all, but the Christmas "creations" are a-coming! hehehe. The image is from The Greeting Farm, called Cheeky Mate. I coloured her in with Copic Markers and I really like how she turned out. :)

I wanted to make a more vintage style card but I still love bright colours so I figured I'd combine those two elements. The cardstock is just a plain red cardstock from Recollections, and the printed papers are from Tim Holtz Idea-ology Retro Grunge stack, My Mind's Eye Playful Posies stack, and the K&Co. Best of Brenda Walton Pad. The stamp image is stamped on plain white Recollections cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and the copic colours I used are the following:

Skin: E53, E51, E50, cheeks: R20

Hair: E19, E17, E09

Bow and Boots: R29, R27, R25

Dress and Hat: B97, B95, B93, B91

I also used Ranger Distess ink in Antique linen to ink around the image and around the sentiment. The sentiment is from AmyR Lovely Sentiments set. It was stamped using the Colorbox Fluid chalk ink pad from the sand dunes set, and the embellishments are Recollections brads and some flowers that I got from a garage sale...

The inside of the card is just the same papers from the Tim Hotz pad and a scrap of cream cardstock with a print on the bottom. I left it blank since it's an "any day card." I hope all of you are warm and cozy. We got out first "real" snow fall the other day... Cheers!

Warm Winter Wishes

It was soooo cold today! Coming off a night shift definitely was not fun this morning LOL. It really feels like winter has come early this year. I don't mind it that much because I love snow! Anyway, so the almost freezing temperatures inspired me to make a winter-themed card. I also got some of my new Copic Markers in the mail today so I wanted to use them. I got them from Scrappin' Great Deals~ a Canadian online store based in Ontario. There was a sale on Copic Sketch markers for 5$! An amazing deal that I could not pass up. So here is the card...

The layout of the card was inspired by Prairie Paper and Ink's Christmas Card Series. Amy has now posted 4 cards and she is great at it! I check everyday to see if she added a new video :) For this card, I used another image from The Greeting Farm called Beanie Anya. I love how warm and cozy she is in this image. I stamped it on Copic Xpress it cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured her with Copic markers. Here are the colours I used:

Skin: E53, E51, E50 with R22 as blush

Hair: E71, E53, E41

Socks: RV000

For the Clothes:

Purples: BV25, BV02, BV00

Greens: BG96. BG93, BG78

Blues: B99, B97, B91

Pinks: R89, R85, R81

The card base is from 3 Birds Design Overstuffed cardmaking kit, and the patterned papers are from K&Co. Seasonal stack, Prima Fairy Flora, and Recollections Pet Pad. I inked the edges of using Memento Grape Jelly ink and used buttons from a garage sale as embellishments. I just wrote out the sentiment. It took a couple of attempts before I was happy with how I had written it.

For the inside of the card, I just used the same patterned papers, inked the edges with Grape Jelly ink and used a couple of blue brads on the sides of the sign. I think it turned out well and I'm really happy with it :) I hope everyone's having a nice cozy night! I'm off to make some hot chocolate, sit by the fireplace and catch up on reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown.

A Minimalist Approach

I wanted to colour another image using Prismacolor pencils and odorless paint thinner, and after colouring, I thought I would challenge myself with whipping up something simple~ maybe a card that showcases only very few elements. I am really happy with the way it turned out. I usually spend so much time on my cards and I sometimes get carried away hehe.. When I finshed this card, I feel I've created something simple, but still quite nice. :)

I used a printed cardbase from the 3Birds Design Overstuffed Cardmaking kit. My image is from The Greeting Farm Miss Anya "Rain, Snow, Shine." I stamped the image using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on plain white Recollections cardstock and used the following Prismacolor Premier coloured pencils to colour "Miss Anya Snow."

Hair: Terra Cotta

Skin: Light Peach, Peach, Pink

Ear Muffs: Sand, Yellow Ochre

Scarf: Sand, Yellow Ochre, Light Cerulean Blue, True Blue

Fur linings: Cloud Blue

Coat/ socks: Lilac, Imperial Violet

Boots: 70% Warm Grey

The sentiment I used is from the AmyR Get Well Sentiments, and as usual I stamped it using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I used Ranger Stickles on the fur to give it a bit of sparkle and I used Recollections yellow half pearls as embellishments. 

That's pretty much it. I have to say, I'm really liking this new technique using coloured pencils and blending the colours with odorless paint thinner. I like that I can show dimension and play with light. I'm off to do another project now. I'm taking advantage of a few days off before I start my set again!

Using Prismacolor Pencils

This is my first attempt at colouring with coloured pencils. It definitely has a different feel from using Copics. I love the "softer" effect, but I know I need more practice. Anyway, I made a gatefold card this time. I used another of my Stamping Bella stamps. She is Bessie Lulu. I just love the scallop detail on her dress! She is so pretty! :)

I used a plain green gatefold card base from Studio G that I just got from the dollar bins at Michaels. I also used some printed textured cardstock from the My Mind's Eye Playful Posies stack. I thought the orange paper with glittery flowers went well with the image. The image as well as the sentiment are stamped on plain white Recollections cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I inked the edges with Ranger Distress Ink in Shabby Shutters. As I mentioned, I used Prismacolor Premier coloured pencils to colour my image, and here are the colours I used.

Skin: Light Peach, Peach

Hair: Light Umber, Sepia

Flowers/ parts of dress: Cream, Canary Yellow, Yellowed Orange, Orange

Dress/ stems: Chartreuse, Apple Green

Shadow: 20% Warm Grey

I also used buttons that I got from a garage sale as embellishments. Now, onto the inside of the card.

I used another textured and glittery cardstock for the sides of the card and I stamped the image again on plain white Recollections cardstock using Memento Pear Tart ink. I find it really hard to get the image to "transfer" when the stamp has no cling mounted to it, and since the stamping bella stamps are unmounted, I think I'll just get some EZ foam cling and attach them. I also used a flower stamp from Inkadinkadoo for the flowers on the top right corner. I used Shabby Shutters to ink the edges of the writing area. I think my first Prismacolor card turned out okay :)

I'm entering this card to the Simon Says Stamp Buttons Challenge 

Happy Birthday Bubby!

My hubby's birthday is coming up on Sunday and I made him a special birthday card. He loves it when I bake him cupcakes so I used this image from Stamping Bella. She is "Harriet" from the lulu collection. I know that the card is so girly but I think he'll still like it. I really enjoyed making this card because it has two of my favourite things- cupcakes and stamping :)

The plain orange card base I used is from the 3 Birds Design Overstuffed Cardmaking kit. I then used some printed cardstock from DCWV Sweet Stack. I love the glittery little cupcakes! I also used Recollections border punch, and inked the edges with Studio G ink pad (it doesn't say what colour, but I used one of the blue ones). I stamped my image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Copic Xpress it cardstock and coloured it in with Copic markers. Here are the colours I used:

Skin: E02, E00, E000
Apron/ headband/ flowers: BG13, BG11, BG10
Small hair flowers: B02, B000
Polkadots/ roses: R85, R81
Cupcakes: E17, E13, E53
Dress ruffles/ stockings: W3

I also used a white satin ribbon and some flowers and "gems" from a garage sale as embellishments. The sentiment is from AmyR Birthday Sentiments. AmyR sentiments are my favourite! I'm building my collection, and next on my list are the Baby Sentiments and the Thankful Sentiments. Anyway, on to the inside of the card...

I used the same patterned cardstock from DCWV Sweet stack on the inside of the card. I also cut out the middle "writing area" using the Cricut Expression and Storybook cartridge. The sentiment is stamped using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on just plain white Recollections cardstock. The sentiment is from AmyR Lovely sentiments. I did stamp it a bit slanted :( but oh, well.... I'll be more careful next time.
I hope you all had a good Halloween! I wish you a lovely rest of the week!

I am entering this to the Tiddlyinks Tuesday Challenge #71 Anything Goes and Birthday Sundaes Guest Designer Birthday Card Challenge

Just Because Card

Today is my last day off.. back to work tomorrow for a 12-hr dayshift. I feel like I really had a good set of days off since I was able to do a lot of crafting. It's such a zen-like experience for me when I colour and make cards- kind of like when I do hot yoga- I just get into "the zone" hehe. Anyway, this card is an "any-occassion" or "just because" card. My starting off point was the colour pink- my favourite :)

I'm so glad I got to use one of my Gorjuss stamps. I love these images! It's difficult to find here in Canada, but I just ordered some from the US from Susana's Custom Arts and Card Design and it came in 2 weeks. This one is called "Ruby." I stamped it on Copic Xpress cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink (as usual). I coloured it in with Copic markers. Here are the colours I used:

Skin: E000, E00, E21
Hair: E19, E15, YR31and R81 (for the bows)
Dress: R39, R85, R83, R8, for the lining: R22, R20
Stockings (pink stripes): R83, R81, R20
Stockings (grey stripes): W3, W1
Shoes: C9, C7, C5
Cat: C9, C7, C5, C3
Swing: E29, E25
Shadow: W1

The card base I used is a plain dark brown cardstock from 3 Bird Designs Overstuffed Cardmaking Kit. The pink cardstock in the background is from DCWV Sweet Stack. The printed papers I used as panels are from K&Co. Best of Brenda Walton pad. I then used KaiserCraft Rhinestones, as well as flowers and adhesive"gems" from a garage sale as embellishments. Lastly, I put StudioG glitter glue in yellow around my image to give it more sparkle, and tie in with the rest of the card.

For the inside of the card, I just used the same paper from the Brenda Walton pad, and stamped the image on an oval white cardstock from Recollections with Memento Angel Pink ink. I love the softness of the colours. It turned out to be such a girly card! I love it.

My First Halloween Card

Halloween is my favourite holiday... I'm not sure why I don't have any halloween stamps! That has got to change LOL. Anyway, I had to make do with what I have, so I used Lolli Anya from The Greeting Farm, since one of the best things about halloween is candy right?! I coloured her hair pink to give a more of a costume-y feel :)

It looks pretty busy but it was fairly simple to make. I used a printed orange card base from 3 Birds Design Overstuffed Cardmaking Kit, and printed papers from K&Co. Seasonal Paper stack. I stamped my image on Copic Xpress paper using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I also used the same ink and sponged the edges of all the papers. I coloured my image using Copic markers. Here are the colours I used:

Skin: E02, E00, E000
Cheeks: R20
Hair: RV06, RV04, RV21
Hair bows, shoes, and parts of lollipop: YG63, YG03, YG00
Skirt and parts of lollipop: BV04, BV02, BV00
Hair baubles and bodice: YR16, YR07, YR00

For the sentiment I used a sticker, again from the 3 Birds Design Cardmaking kit. I also used my Cricut Expression and the Happy Hauntings Cartridge to cut out the black bats and the orange skulls I used as embellishments. That's pretty much it.

I'm entering this card to the CMC Copic Challenge Group's #29 October Challenge, The Paper Variety No Tricks Just Treats Challenge, Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge, My Mum's Craft Shop Spooktacular Challenge, and The Pixie Cottage Go For Gold Challenge

Girly Birthday Card

I am on a roll tonight LOL. Another card I wanna share with you is a card I made for a co-worker whose birthday falls on Halloween. I used some halloween colours (green, purple, black) for the card. I find her look very Rockabilly or Vintage-y 1940s (which I love!), so I chose an image that depicts that. I really hope she likes it.

I didn't do any colouring this time, since I initially planned to enter into a no-colouring challenge but when I read the instructions more carefully, it said to use only images from a certain company :( Oh well, I still think it turned out nicely, even without colouring. It's a nice change. I amped up the embellishments so the card won't look too plain.

I used a plain green card base from the 3 Birds Design Overstuffed Cardmaking Kit, purple patterned cardstock from K&Co. Seasonal Paper stack, and plain white and black cardstock from Recollections. I used the Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page in Framed Dots on the black cardstock. I then inked the edges of all the white cardstock with Ranger Distress Ink in Shabby Shutters. The image I used is by The Greeting Farm, and it's called "Cheeky Rockabilly." TGF images are one of my most favourite images for stamps. I just think they are so cute!

For the sentiments, I used the AmyR's Best Birthday Wishes and Sassy Sentiments. As always, I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink to stamp the images and the sentiments. The flower embellishments and the sparkly "gems" are from a garage sale.

That's it, simple but I really like it! I'd like to enter the Birthday Sundaes Color Challenge and the Paper Pretties Embellish Challenge as well as the Paper Shelter's Anything Goes Challenge

Sparkly Cheers!

Browsing all the blogs I follow got me into the Christmas-y mood already! I just had to share this card I made. I am going to make a few more of these to give to the other nurses in my ward. I hope they'll like it. I sure had fun making this card.

I still can't get the lighting right when I take pictures of my cards. I'm trying out different things, but it seems that I just have to use natural daylight so the colours show up right. Anyway, I used plain red cardstock from Recollections as my card base. For the green background, I just used a glittery, textured green cardstock from the My Mind's Eye Playful Posies stack. I used the image from The Greeting Farm, "Cheeky Christmas" set, stamped it using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Copic Xpress paper and coloured it in with copics. Here are the colours that I used.

Skin: E50, E51, E53
Cheeks: R20 (for blush)
Hair: C9, C7, C5
Hat, Dress and Shoes: R29

I then used Studio G glitter glue in Red over the red hat, dress and shoes, and for the white areas I just used Stickles in Frosted Lace. I used Ranger Distress Ink in Shabby Shutters to ink the edges of the image. I also punched out a red butterfly using the EK Success Butterfly Layering punch using the same red cardstock I used for the card base. That's it. It's very simple but the texture and glitter of the green cardstock and the glitter and stickles on the image really make a statement I think.

The inside of the card is just simple. I stamped the sentiment "Sparkly Cheers" that came from the Cheeky Christmas set using Versamark ink and then I used Black Tsusenko embossing powder and heat embossed it on white plain cardstock also from Recollections. I find the sentiment is very fitting for the "glittery goodness" of the image on the card front LOL :)

I would like to enter this to the Fab's Big Christmas Cards Challenge Blog's October Challenge and Crafting When We Can Christmas Come Early Challenge

Thank you card :)

My hubby's boss gave us some yummy homemade blackberry jam, so to thank her I made a purple-themed thank you card. Purple is her favourite colour. No colouring this time, but I had initially planned to do so, since I got a few new Copic markers from Michaels. They are having a buy one, get one 50% off promotion until tomorrow. Each sketch marker turned out to be about $5.25 CAD. Not bad! The online store I order from is usually around $5.50 CAD, which is a good price, but this way, I don't have to wait for it in the mail or pay 10$ shipping.

Anyway, back to the card...

For this portrait-style card, I used plain purple cardstock from Recollections as my card base. The textured lilac cardstock on the top half is from DCWV White Core Textured cardstock pad, and the bottom diamond-pattern cardstock is from the Prima Nursery Tales pad. I also used a white satin ribbon to go across the card.

I used a stamp from the Inkadinkadoo flower sentiments set and heat-embossed it on plain white cardstock. I also cut out a purple flower with my Cricut Expression, using "poppy" from the Storybook cartridge, which was cut that at 2.25".  I used the purple Recollections cardstock for that as well.

For the scalloped background, I stamped the Impression Obsession script background using Memento grape jelly ink on white cardstock, and inked the edges using Ranger Distress Ink in Broken China. To finish it off, I used pop dots to give the flower and the script-covered background dimension when I adhered them to the card.

Have a nice day!

Fall Card Creation

Fall colours are so beautiful! And now that the trees are starting to change colours where I live, I became inspired to make this card. I initially wanted to make a Halloween  themed card, because I loooove halloween, but I don't have any halloween stamps yet.

My family loves apple pie especially at Thanksgiving so we always have to have one in addition to pumpkin pie. I like how this card turned out. I'm getting the hang of using more embellishments in my creations, but I am still finding my style :)

I used the stamp by The Greeting Farm "Cheeky Cherry Pie." I just adore how cute these Cheeky Girls are!! The sentiment is from Kraftin' Kimmie as part of the Berry Girls Collection, "Abigail Apple." The papers I used are from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Paper Stash Retro Grunge, as well as from the Prima Fairy Flora paper stack. The plain cardstocks are from Recollections.

I stamped the image and sentiment on Copic Xpress paper with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and also inked the edges using Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink pad in Sand Dunes (I used the orange one). The embellishments are from a garage sale. I decided to use a maple leaf and orange brads to coordinate with the colours of the papers.

I used Copic markers (a mix of Sketch and Ciao) to colour the image. The colours I used are:

Hair: E09, E13, E21
Skin: E50, E21, E53, and R20 for blush
Eyes: YG06
Eyeshadow: BV00
Apron: YR00, YR07, YR16, Y17
Apron Ribbon and shoes: R89, R29, R24, R05
Dress: BV00, BV02, BV08
Pie: E15, E13, YR 14
Pie container: C7, C5

I kept the inside of the card simple. I used papers from the Tim Holtz and Prima stacks again and then a plain white cardstock from Recollections for the writing area. I inked the edges again with the orange from the Sand Dunes ink stack, and stamped apples (also from the Abigail Apple set), using the orange and yellow ink from the Sand Dunes stack.

I struggle a bit with what to do with the inside of the cards that I make, but it's a work in progress :)
I am joining the One Crazy Stamper October Halloween or Fall themed Challenge, the TGF Farm Fresh Challenge Blog's Monday Fun Day Challenge as well as the Sunday Sketch and Stamp Weekly Challenge and By the Cute and Girly 2nd Year Birthday Challenge and Blog Hop

Getting back to colouring

I haven't coloured a stamp in a while, and I was getting pretty rusty at it... so on my days off, I decided to bring out my copics and practice. I initially wasn't going to make a card, but then I thought, what the heck, I'll just finish off the project.

I really like how it turned out. I don't usually colour animal images, and I only have very few but I think this one is so cute!

The stamp is called Popcorn the Bear "bear-ly inspired", the papers I used are by K&Co. and the flowers are from a garage sale a while back. Like I said I used copics to colour it in but I didn't make note of which colours. I will for next time. The cardstock I used is the Copic Xpress paper, I believe. I also used Ranger Distress Ink in Broken China for the edges of the image.

I kept the inside of the card very simple. The papers are again from K&Co. except for the card base. I just used a random white cardstock I had laying around, and the sentiment I just printed on the cardstock via laser printer using the chalkdust font, if I'm not mistaken.

That's it for my first post :) Have a nice day!