A New Digital Artist !!

While I was recently leaving comments on another bloggers site, I came across these sweet images by Mary Ellen and couldn't resist adding a few to my ever growing collection.  This card features "Happy Birthday Cupcake Girl" and is available at Mary Ellen's Dearie Dolls here.

The image was printed on Copic Xpress It paper with my Epson printer, colored with Copics, and cut out with Spellbinders Grand Scalloped Circles.  All of the layers were also cut with the Grand Scalloped Circle to make a circular easel card.  The dp is from Bo Bunny's Ad Lib collection, the sentiment is from Whimsy Stamps Birthday Letter Seals collection, and the ribbon is from my stash.

If you love this little cutie check out Mary Ellen's site and stayed tuned to my blog as I have a few more images to color and show off.

I am entering this card into the following:

Card Crafters Circle - #3 Anything Goes

Clearly Inspired - #42 Birthday

Fussy and Fancy Challenge - #53 Happy Birthday

Bearly Mine Challenges - #26 Anything Goes

Sweet Stamps Blog - #47 Celebrate

Bunny Zoe's Crafts - #19 Fancy Folds/Shaped Cards

Cooking it Up With Katie - #86 Anything Goes

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and all the best to you and yours in 2012!!

PJ Time!!

Welcome to the next challenge at The Paper Shelter, and this week Team B's theme is Tie a Bow.  The image I have chosen to work with is "Let's Go To Sleep" available here, and I have colored it with Copics.  The image was cut and embossed with Spellbinders Reverse Wonky Rectangles, then layered on dp from a Recollections paper pad.  The edge of the green cardstock was punched/embossed with a Martha Stewart border punch, the snowflake dies are all from Spellbinders, and the ribbon is chalk white seam binding.

The very talented and generous Veronica and Pedro of The Paper Shelter are offering you a fabulous prize of  $20 to spend on whatever your like in their webshop if you use one of their gorgeous images in the challenge.

 They have such fabulous things to offer you -  digi stamps, papers and accessories and all at such wonderful value.  If you do not use one of their images, you can still enter the challenge to win 3 of their images of your own choice.  So pop on over to The Paper Shelter challenge blog and enter to win.

Shopping Our Stash - #32 Tie It Up
Cooking It Up With Katie - #56 Anything Goes
Freshly Brewed Designs - #76 Christmas
My Mums Craft Shop Challenges - #37 Anything Goes
The Pixie Cottage - #101 Someone Special

Christmas Dreaming!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas surrounded by family and friends!!

It's time again, to show you my card for One Crazy Stamper's Winter/Christmas theme challenge this month.  The image is from Whimsy Stamps Crissy Armstrong's stamp collection, and is called "Christmas Dreaming".  It was stamped with Versa Fine Onyx Black ink onto watercolor paper, then painted with Distress Ink re-inkers and a Pentel Aquash Water brush.  The wings were covered with clear glue and Glitter Ritz Cool Highlight micro fine glitter.  After fussy cutting the image, I popped it up with EK Success 3D Foam dots, and adhered it to the embossed piece of cardstock.  MME's Lime Twist twine was wrapped around this layer, and two tags with a handwritten message finish the card front.

You still have a few days to enter the One Crazy Stamper December challenge to win a great prize - check it out here.

Lawnscaping - #24 Texture
There She Goes - TSG136 Thank You/Gratitude
Truly Madly Crafty Challenges - #5 Christmas Images and Colours
Hiding in My Craft Room - #26 Use it or Lose it
Crafts for Eternity - #51 Embossing

Safari Time at Cuddly Buddly!!

Cuddly Buddly has just released new digital images from Lily Boo Designs, all with a safari theme.  The Safari Sign, Giraffe, and Safari Lily images were colored with Copics, fussy cut and adhered to a stair step folded card.  The grass die is from Magnolia, clouds are a Memory Box die, and the sentiment is an oldie from my stash.

The Crafty Pad - #152 Anything but Christmas
Marks Finest Papers - #87 Anything Goes

The travel journal was created by embossing cardstock with the Tim Holtz postcard folder and then layering the Safari Lily Sitting Pretty and Safari Luggage images, both also colored with Copics, on top of the embosed image.  All of the images are available at Cuddly Buddly.

Ooh-la-la Creations Challenges - #95 Anything But a Card
Wee Memories - #80 Anything Goes

Snow Much Fun!!

Merry Christmas Eve to you all, and I hope that you are all snuggled up waiting for Santa's visit, and that the milk and cookies are waiting for the jolly old fellow!!!  This months theme at Sundays with Crissy is an easy one - Anything Goes!!

I love working with digital images, so when Crissy Armstrong designed her December releases at Whimsy Stamps, I knew right away that I wanted to create a winter scene using as many of the images as possible.  I merged Snowman Santa, Snowman Top O' the Morning and Snowman Skating ( which also got flipped ) to make my card. 

The card was colored with Copics, then flocking, liquid applique, and Smooch Pearlized Top Coat was added for dimension.  The mitten die and matching sentiment stamp are also available at Whimsy Stamps.  The border punch is a Martha Stewart one from my collection ( and someday I will organize all of them and write the name of each right on the punch LOL!!! ).

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and all the Best in the New Year!!

I am entering this card into the following:

Crafty Calendar Challenge - Cold and Frosty

Send a Smile 4 Kids Challenge - Winter Fun for Kids

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge - #113 Santa's Hat

Stampin For The Weekend - #23 Anything Goes

Stamping With the Dragon - Let It Snow

Is this the Last?

I only have two more Christmas cards to show you, so here's my second to last with the very last card posted tomorrow.  Once again I found this image already colored, flocked and glittered, so all I had to do was make it into a card.  The image is Snowy Hug Tilda with snowman from Magnolia and was colored with Copics, then cut out with a Spellbinders die.  Dp is from my stash, the star punch is a All Over the page from Martha Stewart, and the sentiment was stamped and embossed with gold.

I am entering this card into the following:

Belli Challenge - #133 Merry Christmas

Divas by Design Challenge - #17 Merry Christmas

The Sisterhood of Crafters - Christmas

Charisma Cardz - #50 Anything Goes

Crafty Purple Frog Challenge - Christmas

Noel

Only four more sleeps until the Jolly Old Man arrives, and hopefully the end of making Christmas cards for this season.  I found this image in my pile of already colored images ( and I know it was colored last year - sigh ), so it was time to make it into a card.  The image and the black velvet frame around it were cut with Spellbinders Label 14, and to add more texture I ran the velvet though the cuttlebug in an embossing folder - unfortunately the embossing did not photograph well.  The dp is from last year's Harmonie line entitled "Rudolf", and the ribbon, rhinestones and sentiment are all from my collection.
Crafting for All Seasons - #16 Christmas
Divas By Design - #17 Merry Christmas
Little Darlings Challenges - #13 Christmas
Scrapbook Sisters - #66 Anything Goes

TPS Blog Hop Winner

Thank you to everyone who took the time to check out The Paper Shelter's 1st Birthday Celebration Blog Hop, and for leaving me such beautiful comments about my card.  As part of the celebration each design team member used Random Org to choose a winner from our blog comments, and that winner will receive one free digital image from TPS - and the winner for my blog is........

#20 Marjorie of Foxy Cards

Congratulations Marjorie - to claim your prize please go the The Paper Shelter Challenge website and click on the email elf on the left hand side, to contact the store.

Santa's On His Way!!!

It's Tuesday which means it's time for me to post my next creation for One Crazy Stamper - and the theme for this months challenge is Winter/Christmas.  One Crazy Stamper recently added the wonderful line of Impression Obsession stamps to their great selection of stamps, and I love these stamps, so for my card I choose to feature "Santa's Bridge".

The image was stamped on watercolor paper with Versa Fine Black Onyx ink, then colored with Distress Inks refills and an aqua brush.  When I teach painting with distress inks I have always used a palette I made up, with all 36 colors of distress inks listed and a sheet of acrylic, but now you can purchase Tim Holtz's Palette, and it has a hinged lid ( really great to use and store your drops of ink, and the bonus is your cats can't walk through the inks anymore!!! ).

The beautiful dp is from Bo Bunny's Father Christmas 6 x 6 collection, holly die is from Memory Box, and the felt accents were in my stash. You have until the end of the month to enter the OCS challenge to win a great prize.  All items in red are available at OCS, or shop at their online store.
I am entering this card into the following:
Crazy 4 Challenges - C4C117 It's Santa
Mark's Finest Papers - #86 Make a Christmas Card
Card Makin' Mamas - #35 Christmas
Always Something Creative - #20 Merry Christmas
Christmas Crafting - #6 Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Joanna Sheen Challenge - #1 Christmas Wishes

Snowman Glitter!

I saw this stamp at the lss this past spring and immediately knew that it would be perfect for the glitter technique, plus it was on sale!!!  The image was stamped with Staz On ink on the front of a sheet of acrylic, then using Art Institiute Dries Clear Glue and many colors of Glitter Ritz on the reverse side of the stamped image, you get a beautiful stained glass look when the glue dries.  The white background was embossed with the Walrus & Carpenter folder from Couture Creations.

Craft Your Days Away - #35 Snowman

Drunken Stampers - #80 Glittery Holiday

One Stop Craft Challenge - #162 Christmas Sparkle

Glitter Geeks - #28 Anything Goes

More Cute Penguins!!!

Crissy Armstrong, who designs for Whimsy Stamps as well as other companies, is an amazing artist who draws adorable images including penguins!!  This sweetie is a new digital image available at Whimsy Stamps called "Snowman and Penguins".  I choose to color the image with the earth tones from Copics, and added flocking and Polar White Flower Soft for dimension.  The beautiful dp is from my favorite this year, My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Christmas 6 x 6 pad, pearls were made with a Viva Decor Pearl Pen and the ribbon is from my stash.

Little Claires Designs - #16 Family Christmas

Mark's Finest Papers - #86 Make a Christmas Card

Card Makin Mamas - #35 Christmas

The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop - #5 Christmas with a Bow

Forever Friends Challenge Blog - #12 It's All Christmas

The Outlawz Challenge - CPC121611 Celebration

Guest Designer for Local Scrapbook Store!

Last week my "Not a Pickle" card won in the Playing in Paradise challenge, sponsored by Scrapbookers Paradise, a local company with four stores in Alberta and an online store.  Along with my prize, I was also asked to be the guest designer for this weeks challenge, soooo.......

The theme for this weeks challenge is Buttons which I love to include on my cards.  The image is "Mia's Ornament" from CC Designs Sweet November Stamps colored with Copics, then the large ornament was covered with the Cool Highlight Glitter Ritz with White glitter as accents.  The pine bough die is from Marianne Designs, while the swirls are either a Memory Box die or another Marianne die.

Here's a closer look at the ornament -

Check out the Playing in Paradise challenge to see all of the lovely projects by the members of the design team.
I am entering this card into the following:
4 Crafty Chicks - #68 Christmas Card
Art Impressions Stamps - #44 Buttons
Crop Stop - #50 Unique and Non-traditional Christmas
Paper Crafting Journey - Christmas
Paper Play Challenges - #50 Christmas
ABC Christmas Challenge - "Y" is for Yipeee!! Christmas is almost here!

Herd it on the Rooftop!!!

I'm not sure if a group of reindeer are called a herd or not, but here's my interpretation of three of Santa's special friends getting ready for the big day, and my card for this month's challenge at One Crazy Stamper's theme of Winter/Christmas.

Your Next Stamp has adorable images and this is Happy as a Reindeer, stamped and masked on Copic Xpress It paper with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and colored with Copics.  The colored image and the red mat were both torn and inked, then mounted on designer paper from Fancy Pants Saint Nick collection.  The reindeers harnesses and the red stripes were all highlighted with the Chrome Silver Pearl Pen from Viva Decor, and textured snow was added with White Liquid Applique.
Crafty Card Makers - #58 Use It Three Times
Pollycraft Challenge Blog - #120 Christmas Fun
Truly Madly Crafty Challenges - #5 Christmas Images and Colours

You Gotta Have Friends

Another cutie from Sugar Nellies - "Furry Friends" colored with Copics attached to the front of a window card.  The seam binding was airbrushed with Copics to match the color scheme, and the gorgeous snowflake is from Marianne Designs dies.  The sentiment was embossed with silver.

Cupcake Craft Challenges - #172 Don't Look at the Light

Hooked on Craft Challenges - Christmas

Outlawz Challenges - Dec 12 - Let it Snow

Paper Sundaes - #99 Anything Christmas

More Glitter!!

Better late than never - here's my post for Dream Valley Challenges new challenge today - "Christmas" - and this challenge runs until January 7th and there are so awesome prizes, so check it out here.

The image was stamped with Walnut Stain Distress ink, then the entire image was washed with Antique Linen, Brushed Corduroy, and Vintage Photo distress inks.  Scor-tape was adhered to the entire image, and a strip of 1/4" Scor-tape was used to mask off the area where the brown glitter was used.  Cool highlight glitter from Glitter Ritz was burnished over the image, then the mask was removed and the brown glitter was burnished on. 

It's My Last Pickle!

This is my last Pickle the Penguin stamp, I only purchased four this year from the images that were available.  Hopefully Wild Rose Studios will keep on making more of these cuties!!

"Pickle with Sledge" is off to deliver all of his gifts to the special people in his life.  The image was colored with Copic colors choosen to match the gorgeous dp paper from Bo Bunny's Snowfall collection.  All of the edges were inked with brown, as well as the Memory Box Frostyville border and the sentiment which is an oldie from MSE.  The snowflake stickers are from Jolee's and the ribbon is from my stash. 

Clearly Inspired - #41 Christmas
Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge - #112 Anything Goes
Fairy Fun Fridays - #67 Beat the Blues
Patties Creations Challenge - #34 Christmas
Stampin for the Weekend - #22 Christmas
Sarah Hurley Challenges - #55 Christmas
Sassy Studio Designs - #102 Christmas
Penny's Challenges - #68 Merry Christmas

It's Not a Pickle!!

I still have one more card featuring Pickle the Penguin, but that's for tomorrow's post - today is for another sweet penguin image - this is "Warm Winter Wishes" from Sugar Nellie - love it!!!

The image was colored with Copics, and the dp is from Die Cuts With a View Winter Wonder stack.  Ribbon is from my stash, the snowflakes are Jolee's, and I used Flower Soft Polar White for the trim on the hat.  For the first time I am entering this card into the Sugar Nellie challenge, which this week is a wonderful sketch.

The Sugar Bowl - #73 Cathy's Sketch

Playing in Paradise Challenge - #44 Monochromatic

Delightful Sketches - Blue Xmas
 Creative Belli Challenge - #132 Winter & Christmas
Ruby's Rainbow - #18 Monochrome

Happy 1st Birthday to The Paper Shelter!!!

Good morning fellow crafters and welcome to The Paper Shelter Blog Hop.  Our hop is a very exciting one for all of us, as it is in celebration of our 1st Birthday!!!  If you have landed here from Debs then you're heading in the right direction - if not then you'll want to head on back to The Paper Shelter Challenge Blog to begin as you'll not want to miss out on this one!  Our Design Team have worked very hard and are showcasing the gorgeous images available from The Paper Shelter website, and each blog on the hop is offering one lucky commenter a digi of their choice as well as the main prize, details of which are on The Paper Shelter Challenge blog.

My card uses the pre-colored image "Balloon Ride" which I merged with paper and the sweet treats image from the Pattiserie accessorises set.  I printed out the Balloon Ride image twice, then fussy cut one of the images and popped it up over the original.  On the balloon and sweet treats I used Diamond Glaze and Viva Decors Brown Pearl Pen to add dimension to the fruit and chocolate chips and icing ( see below ).

From here you will need to hop on over to Tracey M's blog, or if you just stumbled across my blog, or gotten lost along the way, go back to the start of the list of design team members participating in the hop at The Paper Shelter Challenge Blog.  Don't forget to leave your comment for a chance of winning your choice of one of the fab digis available in store.  Hop!  Hop!  Hop! 

Good luck,. and we hope you're enjoying all of the wonderful inspirations from the Design Team.



Wish Upon a Star

Another cute penguin card, and you guessed it, it's another Pickle - this time it's Pickle with Present from Wild Rose Studio - love these little cuties!!

I love the look of an easel card, and it's been awhile since I made one, and the round easel cards are a favorite.  The image was colored with Copics, white flock was added to the fur trim, and Flower Soft Polar White makes his pom pom trim complete.  All of the dp is from My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Christmas 6 x 6 paper pad.  Every shape was cut with a Spellbinder die, except for the Canadian Doily from Cherry Lynn Designs, and the star punch. 

I am entering this card into the following:

Kaboodle Doodles - #96 Colors of Christmas

Make My Monday - #27 Seasonal + Add some Glitter

Ooh La La Creations Challenges - #94 Lots of Sparkle

Simon Says Stamps - Anything Goes

Bah-Humbug Christmas Challenge - #47 Cute Christmas Critters

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge - #111 Colours of Xmas with option of Sparkle

From Our Igloo to Yours!

As promised yesterday, here's my second penguin card, and this one features "Pickle on Igloo" colored with Copics.  Polar white flower soft highlights the snow on the ground, and white flocking was added to this cutie's hat trim.  The igloo was colored and then covered with Diamond Glaze, and tiny silver stars were added with a Sakura Clear Star Gelly Roll pen to the sky.  The dp paper is from last year's SEI Kris Kringle 6 x 6 paper pad.

I am entering this card into the following:

Crazy Challenges - #96 Anything Goes

Bah-Humbug Christmas - #47 Cute Christmas Critters

The Poodles Parlour - Christmas

Totally Papercrafts - #95 Let It Snow

A Penguin Christmas

One of my all time favorite images is anything to do with penguins, so when I saw the adorable Pickle stamps from Wild Rose Studio, I just had to add some to my collection!   This is the first of four cards that I've been working on, so expect to see a few more penguins popping up on my blog in the next few days. 

Here's "Pickle with Tippie" wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!  The image was stamped with Memento ink on Copic Xpress It paper, then colored with Copics.  The dp is from my favorite 6 x 6 paper pad this year, My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Christmas.  Although you can't really see it in this photo, there are champagne bubbles floating out of the glass.

I am entering this card into the following:

Addicted to Stamps Challenge - #18 Christmas card

Come and Get it Challenges - Anything Christmas

Gingerloft Challenge - GL30 Christmas & Winter

Lets Ink It Up - #18 Christmas Projects



Jolly & Glittery Little Santa

Wow, where did the year go?  Hard to believe that today is the first day of the last month of the year, and that Christmas is only 24 more sleeps away ( when the kids were small we counted down the sleeps until Santa arrived ).  Since it's the first of the month it's time for the next challenge at One Crazy Stamper and the theme is Winter/Christmas.

For this card I decided to use a technique that involves lots, and lots of messy glitter - it was time to get the animals all glittery for the upcoming season anyway!!  I stamped Jolly Little Santa from Whimsy Stamps on the front of a sheet of acrylic with Staz On Jet black ink.  Then working on the back side of the stamped image I put Art Glitter Designer Dries Clear adhesive on all of the parts of the image that I wanted to be either red, black, green or gold.  After applying the glue I sprinkled the selected color of Glitter Ritz on to the glue and shook off the access ( if you are going to try this technique run a used dryer sheet over both sides of the acrylic, it prevents some of the static ).  Once all of the glue dries I then applied Flower Soft Polar White Diamond range to the front of the card to make the fur trim ( use the same adhesive ).  Dp paper from Fancy Pants Saint Nick collection is on the inside of the card, and Whimsy Stamps Holiday Wishlist, stamped on kraft paper, and colored with Prismacolor pencils finishes the inside.  Ribbon and sentiment are from my stash.

I am entering this card into the following:

City Crafter - #85 Santa Claus is Coming

Going Grey with Scrap Creations - Christmas

Exciting News - Happy 1st Birthday TPS!!!

The Paper Shelter is turning 1 on December 7th, and to celebrate we have a big blog hop planned, with prizes to be won, and lots of wonderful projects by both design teams for your inspiration.  Be sure to check it out on Wednesday, December 7th, here.