My first Dylusions creation

This is my first attempt at trying out the "Art Journaling" style that seems so popular right now. However, I really like making cards so I turned it into a card instead. I started out with a 4x6 card base from 3 Birds Design, and then I placed the altered cardstock which was a plain cream one from Recollections, onto the card base. Really simple because I just wanted to try out the stuff I got. I used 4 colours, which is all I have right now, but I'm hooked so that could change really really soon. I used Crushed Grape, London Blue, Vibrant Turquoise, and Lemon Zest. Wow! These colours are so vibrant  I love them!

The sentiment is from Tim Holtz's Urban Chic stamp set from Stamper's Anonymous, and so are the swirls on the corners. The hand stamp is from Dylusions stamp set called Curious Corrin. The main image is also from the same stamp set. All of them are stamped using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

I coloured the main image with Distress inks. I purposely coloured outside the lines. This style is so liberating! LOL. Definitely not what I'm used to, but I love it! The distress inks are not as vibrant, but it works too. It just goes to show that you can use what you have and you don't have to get absolutely every colour of every line that comes out. I then used my white gel pen to put some little dot accents on the swirls. Finally, I distressed the edges using my We R Memory Keepers Heart Attack tool.

Grateful for Blessings

Another Thank you card, ladies and gentlemen.. :) I'm really loving this Thank You stamp that I got from the 2$ bin from my LSS. I can't get enough of it! Also my heart is full of gratitude this week because I still can't believe I got the job that I wanted for soooo long! Anyway, this card is for no one in  particular, but I'll save it for somebody special. This is the first time I tried the dimensional stamps technique and I still have a lot of room to improve. I love the effect though. Also here I used Perfect Pearls again. I really really like them! Kinda messy to work with but the effect is so pretty :)

I took the picture at night so it's kind of hard to get the lighting right, oh well. So here I used a 4x6 card base from 3 Birds Design. It's just a plain blue card stock. I matted a paper from the Prima Fairy Belle pad, which I used the embossing resist technique on. I used a small butterfly stamp from Pink Paisley London Market stamp set, embossed it with clear embossing powder and then inked the paper with Milled Lavender Distress Ink. I then stamped a background from Hero Arts with Versamark ink and used Heirloom Gold, Blue Patina, Pewter, and Green Patina on the stamp, set it with water and dried with my heat tool. Again, the picture doesn't do it justice but in the light it's so shiny!!

The image is Magnolia's Tilda Catching Stars. I didn't include the stars though, because I wanted her to be pointing at the sentiment. I inked the stamp with Staz-On ink and stamped it twice (so I can cut one up) on 190gsm Canson Watercolor Paper. I used my Distress Inks to colour the image. Here are the colours I used:

Hair: Tea Dye, Antique Linen

Skin: Tattered Rose

Socks/Crown/Wand: Antique Linen

Dress: Forest Moss

Shoes: Weathered Wood

I then used foam dots to give dimension to the stamped pieces. I think I did a pretty decent job for my first attempt :) Now, on to the sentiment. I used the Thank You stamp again from Hero Arts that I got from the 2$ bin! Yay for deals! I embossed it using gold embossing powder, and used foam dots again to give dimension. I also used some roses from Prima and adhesive pearls. Finally, I used my Memory Box die called Macarena Corner and placed it beside the sentiment. I love this card!

I am entering into the following challenges:
Magnolia Stamp Lovers- Distress, Simply Magnolia- Garden Blooms, Bunny Zoe's Crafts- Girls Girls Girls

Happy Father's Day

I made this card for my dad. I was going to their house right after my night shift so I had to make sure I had the card made the day of my night shift. I didn't get a lot of sleep time in the afternoon but it was worth it because I really liked how the card turned out :)

I made an easel card that's also a criss-cross card. I used a paper from Cosmo Cricket, called Hey Sugar: Honey Honey. Don't you just love that name?! LOL I used Recollections plain cream cardstock as my base. The swirls are made from a Cheery Lynn die called fancy flourish. I also added a champagne couloured satin ribbon around the card. I love that colour! The butterflies are cut out from pink cardstock from my stash using an EK success layered punch. The flowers are from my stash. I heat embossed the sentiment "I love you" and I matted it on red cardstock that I punched the side with a Recollections edge punch. The tag that says "Family" was from a garage sale.

The image is "Tilda with Lace Shoes" and it is one of my new Magnolia stamps. I stamped the image using Staz-On ink on 90gsm Watercolour paper and coloured them using Memento inks and Ranger Distress Inks. The colours I used are:

Hair: Antique Linen, Vintage Photo
Skin: Tattered Rose, Vintage Photo, Victorian Velvet (blush)
Shirt: Cantaloupe, Dandelion, Tattered Rose
Pants: Tattered Rose, Vintage Photo
Shoes: Milled Lavender, Victorian Velvet

I also inked the white edges with Antique Linen, and stamped a little "dandelion" stamp with Cantaloupe ink from Memento. Here's the "inside" of the card.

I used a plain white cardstock from Recollections, punched the edge with the same Recollections edger punch, and the sentiment is from Hero Arts. I used the same dandelion stamp on the sides of the sentiment. The sentiment is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

My dad really loved his card :)

Ballerina Tilda

I am really getting into Magnolia stamps lately. I am actually waiting on an order from Scrappin' Great Deals. They had a 30% off Stamps a few days ago and I was able to get some Tilda goodies! :) I can't wait!! Anyway, out of the 3 Magnolia stamps I have, this is my favourite. I made this card for my friend, Gloria. It is her birthday, and I hope she likes it. This is my first attempt at a "shabby chic" kind of style. I'm very pleased with it. :)

I used Magnolia's "Ballerina Tilda" stamp on watercolour paper using Staz-on Ink. I then colured it with Distress Inks. Here are the colours I used:

Skin: Tattered Rose, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo

Hair: Antique Linen, Vintage Photo

Dress/ Pointe shoes: Milled Lavender, Victorian Velvet

Crown: Shabby Shutters

Tights: Antique Linen

Shadow: Weathered Wood

I used printed papers from my scrap stash (I am challenging myself to use up my papers). I inked all the edges using Vintage Photo ink. I used a Cheery Lynn die called "English Tea Party" for the center doily. The corner die cuts are from Memory box dies called "Macarena." I also used a cuttlebug folder for the pink cardstock across the card. I put a satin cream coloured ribbon around it. And, of course it wouldn't be complete without flowers. I used a lot of flowers from my stash, and out gems on the center of some of the flowers. On the large pink flower on the side, I used Adirondack Acrylic dauber in Pearl to give it a more "shabby chic" feel. I also stamped "Just for you" using Memento Magenta ink on a scrap card stock and punched the edge with Recollections lace edge punch.

And as a final touch, I used my Cricut Expression (Once Upon a Princess, and Storybook cartridges) to cut out the tags and the letters to spell out Gloria's name. I really hope she will like it.

I am entering the following challenges: TOMIC -1st Anniversary Challenge, Midweek Magnolias - Anything Goes, The Ribbon Girl -Ribbons or Lace, Pretty Little Ribbon Shop - Layers, Stampalot Challenge - Pink Brown Bling

Lovely Mommy-to-be :)

One of my good friends is expecting a baby boy. How exciting! I made her this card to celebrate this great news. It's a really simple card to put together, but the real surprise is that I actually made the printed paper I used for the background. But before that, here is the card:

I used a Kraftin' Kimmie image called "Caroline." I used Memento Rich Cocoa Ink to stamp the image on Copic Xpress- It card stock. I coloured the image with Copics, of course. Here are the colours I used:

Skin: E21, YR0000, R20

Hair: E17, E13, Y23

Dress: B02, B000, B0000

I used flowers from my stash, and I coloured the big blue flower with Adirondack Acrylic dauber in Pearl. I also used pearls stickers on the center of the flowers. The sentiment is from the same stamp set, and I used a Studio G ink pad on just plain white card stock. 

Here's the cool part. I used double embossing resist technique on a plain white card stock. I used an Inkadinkadoo bird wood stamp, a Hero Arts cling background stamp and Clear and Glitter Clear embossing powder. I also used Ranger Distress Inks in the process. I used Milled Lavender, Victorian Velvet, Weathered Wood, Tattered Rose, Shabby Shutters and Broken China. 

I am entering this card into the following challenge: Ink It Up Challenge - Favourite Embellishments

Why Hello, Sweet Pea!

I only have one Sweet Pea stamp- and I used it on this card, which I made for my dear friend, Ashley. We've been friends since Nursing school and we've always worked together in the same hospitals. I wasn't able to go to her birthday dinner so I will give this to her at the end of the month, when we meet for our other friend's birthday.

I actually didn't list the colours I used to colour the image, because I initially thought I wasn't gonna use it, but after putting it all together, I really liked how it turned out. I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink on regular white Recollections card stock, and coloured the image with copic markers. 

I used ranger distress inks a lot on this card. I used Broken China and Shabby Shutters around the image. I used Antique Linen to stamp Inkadinkadoo clear stamps around the image. Again, I'm challenging myself to use up my scrap papers, so the printed papers behind the image are from my stash. I inked the edges with Vintage Photo ink. I also used white faux stitching around the printed papers. 

I added flowers from my stash, and put gems at the center of the flowers. Finally, I used a Memory Box die called "Catalina Wreath," inked it with Vintage Photo again and placed it behind the image. I think it really came together. 

For the inside of the card, I used some more printed paper scraps, inked them with Vintage Photo and Broken China, and another one of the Catalina Wreath die cuts. I used a sentiment from AmyR's stamps and I spelled Ashely with an alphabet set from Studio G.  

I'm entering this card into the following challenges: Deep Ocean Challange - Sewing and Truly Scrumptious Challenge - Flower Power

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!

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 

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!

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!