Friday, March 26, 2010

Peachy Keen and lacy!

Hello everyone! What a great Friday this will be, it's sunny and they are promising warmer weather! That's good for me because I dug a new flower bed a couple of days ago and need to finish it before a dear friend of mine from Toronto arrives on Sunday for a week long visit. I am very anxious for her to get here! We will have other things to keep busy with ;)

So onto my card...
I created this for the Caarvarks Lacy Days challenge. Well, things are peachy keen with this card, delicate lace around the peaches and all edges of the Graphic 45 papers used are sponged with a marigold ink for a homey feel. I love this Lockhart peaches in the leafy lettuce bowl stamp. Love all of the Lockharts for the size of the image and detail. These are great to colour and shade with Copic markers.
I used some Spellbinder Nestabilities dies and all stamped images are popped up on dimensional foam.
Have a great Friday!

I will take pictures of the garden bed and post if I get to finish it today or tomorrow!

Cheers!
Chriss

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Mojo 131 and a Just Rite challenge just too late ;)

So here is my Just Rite challenge (to use a combination of sets) but I am two hours late! So dissapointed that I totally missed the deadline... I thought I had until tomorrow! Oh well, I can still share right. I used the Mojo sketch #131 for the layout. The JR sets that I used to stamp the images and sentiment are Decorative Borders 2", Breath of Spring (the oval woven frame),and A Little Caffeine set. I also used the SU cornere and border punch from the current mini catalog and an EK border punch on the aqua panel.
I am always lovin' Julie's sketches and have participated (not every week) frequently since sketch #6.

Have a great day!
I will be spending the afternoon with a couple of dear friends shopping and having a bite!


chriss

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

I am diggin' my doily flower!

Hi there everyone! Hope the weather is good and sunny wherever you are and you are having a good week. My week is starting a little late as I have been a little sick with fever and cold, but starting to feel a little better this afternoon. I had made this card Sunday night for the "Diggin' on Doilies and Lace" challenge over on the Moxie Fab blog and finally took a photo of it today. The challenge is doilies. I have some doily stamps, but didn't use those, I used an actual doily that I have had for decades. I found it in the garage last week and washed it, it is quite yellowed, but really wanted to make something out of it. I cut out a floral piece of it (I will use the other 7 same shapes to make more flowers) and decided to create a flower for a focal point on this card. The bottom layer is the largest Spellbinder Dahlia shape that I cut out of an acrylic sheet (I also cut one from the dp) and I edged the flower points with eggplant craft ink, dusted with clear embossing powder and heat set, then I added some more of the same ink.
I layered the lace flower on top of that and then another acrylic MS flower that I punched from the same sheet and embossed the same as the first shape. I also stamped a shape with the same ink using a Papertrey Giga Guide Lines stamp and cut that out to layer under the second acrylic piece. I made center holes in all of the layered floral pieces and added this little flower that just arrived from the UK last week. The dp on the card front is from K and CO. The sentiment is from PTI Giga Guide Lines and I stamped it directly onto a cream cs panel and added a lace border, a dp MS punched lace border and also punched another MS lace border onto the bottom of the cream panel. I love the way it turned out and I want to make some more "doily" projects.

Here's a little Irish coffee for ya...
Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Cheers!
Chriss

Friday, March 12, 2010

CPS#157 with Stitched "Flowers"

Hello everyone! Thanks for all of the nice comments you have been leaving on the little blog here, I really, really appreciate them!
Today's card is one that I made for CardPositioningSystems, sketch 157 . As soon as I saw the circles on the sketch and it is being sponsored by Just Rite, I knew that I wanted to use this Dresden Plate image from Just Rite's "Stitched with Love" set. I love each and every image, border and the fun sentiments in this set, but today, I didn't use a sentiment or border. I wanted the images to take the stage. As you can see, I paper-pieced the center Dresden Plate with a couple of K and CO. patterned papers and added a newly acquired Jenni Bowlin vintage button to the center and added a length of embroidery floss. The other two are stamped onto PTI vintage cream cs and coloured with a sand Copic marker. I cut out the plaid "petals" in the plates and curled them up a bit to create these flowers. To the center, I added a paper vintage-y rose from Prima and adhered with dimensional foam to the vintage cream panel. The panel was embossed with PTI's Tin Types embossing plate and edged with a Copic marker (the sketch end)

I placed that panel onto another panel that I created using a MS round eyelet type border that I thought went well with the feel of this card. The card front is a K and CO. patterned paper from the same pad.

Thanks for looking, I will try to have another card tomorrow...until then
Cheers!

Chriss

Here is a close-up...

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Lovely Lucky Green Bunny!

Good Day everyone! I have a few cards today 1 is for the MoxieFabWorld Lovely on the Green challenge and the other two are Easter cards, just 'cause I felt like making them!

My green on green card is this lucky bunny, and his "pot of gold" right in plain sight. He is almost there! This is my first time to sew on a card, so please excuse the crooked stitching. I used PaperTrey Ink's Bitty Dots paper for the background and sewed onto a Spring Moss panel. I used my Martha fence punch and slightly edged with some Spring Moss ink, adhered with dimensional foam to the front. The little bunny (a Deadbeat designs stamp that I got at a local SBS) was stamped directly onto Graphic 45 Botanicabella dp and cut out and I added a pom pom tail dusted with white glitter, because to my horror, I had black, red and gray pom poms, but no white ones, so I improvised on the gray.

The carrot stamp is from Stampendous and I coloured with Copics. The Shamrocks are punched with a couple of different heart size punches.

The next card is a more traditional Easter card made with Magenta cling stamps, coloured with Luminaire and then with the newest oooo pale Copics. I don't know if you can see the slight yellow on the daffodil, purple on the tulip and pink on the lilly of the valley? I cut out and mounted with dimensional foam to a black square and then to a panel I made with another MS edger punch. The cream panel is a CB folder and then mounted to another black panel and the DP covering the whole front is a K and CO. I really like this card and would have to say that this is a comfortable style for me.

This next Easter card is quite colourful! I used the cute Easter Inchies from Rubbernecker that I purchased last year when released. I had fun colouring these teeny images and decided to make an Easter quilt-like card. The cs and dp are both PTI.

Thanks for looking!
Cheers to a great Wednesday!
Chriss

Monday, March 8, 2010

Scallops and daffodils!

Good afternoon everyone!
I have another card for you today, this one is a Springy daffodil stamped from the beautiful Flourishes "A Year of Flowers" series. It also is for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge, to use scallops and for the PlayDateCafe colour challenge to use pale and dark yellows. I wonder how many daffodil cards were made for this!

The background was made using a CB folder entitled Ornamental Iron and the scallops and scroll just across the bottom of the daffodil is a die border also in the same EF set. I have scallops around the sentiment and image too. I love these colours and don't use the yellows often enough. Hope you are having a good start to your week!

Chriss

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Sweet smelling buttons!

Hello everyone! Hope you have had a great Sunday. I started a new job today, after being unemployed for 4 months after the Smith and Hawken store (and the whole brand) came to an end, but it was a nice little break. The first day on the new job was really pleasant, friendly co-workers and I think I will really like it!
Onto the business of challenges, these cute "jars" are for the JustRite challenge to make a tag or label AND for the Verve RE-use challenge.
I was so excited when I saw back in January that JR was creating/releasing the Stitched with Love set and pre-ordered them because I had this exact project in mind...no kidding! As you know from my previous posts, I have had help with my stamp room make-over and I am enjoying it SO, so much (now that I can find everything) and I wanted to dress up my growing button collection. I have been burning these candles from Bath & Bodyworks and saving the jars. These are the smaller ones (they a larger size too) and when I first bought them, I thought they would be perfect for the buttons! I started making these last night and finished them up this evening, snapped a photo from my craft room desk top where I have an Ott light and, well, here they are!
I stamped in Memento Tux. black ink and coloured in the tiny leaves and then used some PTI cs and dots patterned black paper to make different sizes and shapes with my Nestabilities. I glued them all together and placed some dimensional foam behind the Just Rite tag, placed some co-ordinating buttons and that is it.
I love how these turned out and plan to do this for all of my buttons AND some of my JR stamps could fit into these too! Do you know what other bonus these jars have? They have a rubber seal on the lid, so every time I open for a button, I get a wonderful orange or pineapple or margarita aroma!
Thanks for peeking in,
Cheers! chriss

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Easter Bonnet and Tea Cup Impression Obsession style!

Here are a couple of cards that I made for the I.O. challenge, to make and Easter card using Impression Obsession stamps.
Although I have been collecting these stamps for a little while now, I didn't have anything that was "true Easter", but I thought, an Easter Tea and stamped the pretty teacup and coloured in Spring colours and put the card together. The white lacey border is a paper doily that I cut the edge off (and it also qualifies for a challenge to use doilies over on the MFB) and I layered it onto a border that I made from a PTI tiny dots paper in Aqua Mist cut with a SU border punch. The white background was created with a Quickutz embossing folder and I added a teeny pearl to the luscious chocolate.

Then I remembered, I have a bonnet. Easter bonnet! This is called the scalloped bucket hat, but as I was looking through the I.O. stamps online, I saw that they have quite a few pretty hat stamps. The flower is also an I.O. hydrangea sprig and the bonnet hat card uses a sketch for the SFYTT that Jen put up today. I had a lot of fun colouring these hydrangea sprigs and blending the purples.

Well, off to clean my mess on the desk now before I can go onto the next challenge!

Thanks for taking a peek,
Chriss

Life's a bowl of strawberries?


Good morning everyone, hope the weather is becoming Spring-like wherever you are.
I have been trying to catch up with Birthdays, still behind, but enjoying making all of the cards and making some extras for a few challenges. This card is for a challenge that is going on over on the MoxieFabWorld blog, the Olympics of Stamping. This is a birthday card, let's say my first fruit of the day. Another cute Lockhart fruit stamp, strawberries. I had some last night with a piece of lemon torte, YUM!
Onto the card... I stamped and then coloured with my Copics and adhered to several different shaped layers using Spellbinder Nestabilities and Cuttlebug dies. I paired it up with a red Bazzil cs, a PTI pink and a patterned and beautifully textured strawberry and vine paper from DCWV Farmer's Market. I also used a new texture plate (Tin Types) from PTI on the pink cs. The sentiment is from PTI also and the cute polka dotted oval label is a stamp label image from a set by Cindy Echtinaw that I recently purchased.
Hope you have a great day and get some stamping time in!
Cheers,
Chriss

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

PoppySeed's first challenge! Spring Yellow and a MF card submission.

Good morning everyone! Is it Spring yet?
This card will also qualify for the MoxieFabWorld challenge to make a "hello" card...I only just realized this, YAY!
I made a Spring card for the very first PoppySeed challenge. The challenge requires that we use yellow, a jewel/rhinestone and a flower stamp. Check for the PTI yellow, check for the rhinestone studded flowers and check for the stamped teeny flowers from PTI Bird Watching.

I really like how this card turned out, soft and Springy.

The tree is an image from the PTI set Through the Trees. It is the first time I am using this set and I know I will be using it over and over. It is so easy to use and today, I stamped the leaves in Spring Moss, but can you imagine rocking and rolling this in several fall colours?!


The grass that I positioned below the tree is from Bird Watching, another of my favourites because it too has so many versatile pieces. On the stamp in the grass are some cute bird houses on posts, but I inked up the grass only and the post portions became flower stalks for me to top with one of the teeny flowers from the set. I coloured in the petals with a pale yellow Copic marker.
The little bird is from this same set and I stamped her in barely banana and rocked and rolled the edges in creamy caramel on a piece of velum that I had embossed in white with a tiny lacey hankerchief stamp. I then took the pale yellow marker and went over some of the bird portions for definition and added a black dot from a Spica pen for her eye. She looks just like a parrot that I saw passing through a couple of weeks ago at the market.
The borders are a MS and a SU punch. I like the two layered over each other in the vintage cream and Spring Moss, both from PTI.
The sentiment is also from the Bird Watching set and cut out using a petite oval Nestie and I cut out another in this pretty PTI yellow and used an old SU corner punch on either end to create a little sentiment holder.

Thanks for peeking in and I hope to have another Lockhart fruit card for you later, because I still have some birthday cards to make!

Cheer to Spring!

Chriss

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Birthday cherries!

I have done it! All 4 of Jen del Muro's sketches complete, yay!
#3


There is a big prize at stake and you can participate here, but hurry, the deadline is this Friday the 5th.

I needed a few birthday cards, so I have been working on the Lockhart fruit images. I just really love the details in them. For today's card, I paired it with this mini patterned Jenni Bowlin 4 X 4 paper. I like the grey and cream together and the red of the cherries that I coloured with Copic markers and glazed just seem to pop, at least in real life they do!

I really like this sketch as it allows you to really highlight your stamped image. I used the circle Nestabilities and petite scalloped to frame my colander of cherries.

The background texture is a new PaperTrey "Tin Types" texture plate and it's a tad larger than our regular sized cards, and I think that's a good thing! No "border edges" if you choose to make the whole front from one card stock without another card stock border.

Here is a close up of my glazed cherries...don't they look inviting?
Here is the whole card. I haven't yet mastered bows, but I was satisfied with this one.

Thanks for looking and I hope that you are having a good week so far...


Chriss